So I looked at a social media post this morning, and I seen that one of the local breweries just happens to have 5 (five) Stouts on tap. It has been quite along time since I have been to Copperstate Brewing, but 5 stouts on tap,, that will bring me out.
I was surprised to see that they really did have 8 stouts up on tap. 3 new ones. I have had the Gary imp stout (which has garnered one of my very few 5/5) and their Swift Stout, which I am not a fan of.
So we decided on Preach! A 11.5 bourbon barreled Imperial stout. And it does look pretty nice the small glass.
It did at first pour with a nice looking tan head, that disappeared almost as the second it was set in front of me. But that is the nature of these big beers and the bourbon barreled ones.
Definitely black. No other word for it. But it looks dead flat after the head leaves. It’s too dark to see if there are any carbonation bubbles.
For an imperial Stout,, they are serving this pretty damn cold. But again, keeping seperate temps for each beer just isnt feasible. But I think being this cold is the reason that I am getting almost nothing in aroma other than a slog of sweetness,, a bit of chocolate and just the slightest bit of raisin. (That sweetness all upfront scares me a bit. But we will see later)
Nothing for roast or anything like that. Maybe just the slightest bit of barrel.. but I wouldn’t necessarily call it bourbon. If you told me this was a rum barrel aged I would believe that.
But nothing for hops, yeast or anything else.
In the taste though,, things start to open up a little. Big raisin right off the bat. And that’s always a good thing for me in an imperial. Next thing that hits me is that sweetness,, fairly heavy sweetness, but for now the cold temp is keeping it manageable
About now I should be getting blasted by some roast. Some roasted barley or maybe Black pat.. but sadly, not much. Chocolate notes though (just notes). This is after all being billed as an imperial Stout. It should be stouty somewhere in its profile.
As it it warming up a little, I’m starting to get a bit of hop taste along with an alcohol warming that just started to peak out. But staying with that warming, it also has the remnants of jet fuel. There is a considerable difference between alcohol warmth, and fusel alcohol. Another 3-4 months might do this beer good. But then again,, another 3-4 months and what little character this beer does have might drop out and leave us with just that syrupy sweetness
That body is just this side of thick. It’s heavy for sure. But we got lucky here on two fronts. The carbonation is keeping a tad lighter feeling,, plus it pushes the bittering at bit which is doing its best at keeping that sweetness at bay.
I’m really struggling to see why they decided to call this a stout. The imperial part I can see. It’s a 11.5% sweet syrupy dessert beer. But just because its black does not mean its a stout. We need to dark roast,,, somewhere. Its fine if you wanna run the sweet side of a stout,, but make sure its a stout first. This is just a high alc desert beer.
As I mention this to my server they are convinced that I have no idea what a stout is supposed to be!
Ok. This is one of those beers that are hard to give a score to. I sorta like it for what it is, and at $11 a short pour I feel obligated to like something about it. But it’s no damn stout. And thats why I here. Put some roast in there, mash a bit lower, and let it age a year longer and this might be a decent Stout.
The way it sits, I’m just gonna go with a 2.5/5
On a side note, I had a legitimate question about this beer. Since this supposedly was a bourbon barrel aged beer, I asked if they also had the original beer on tap that wasn’t bourbon barreled.
The reaction and answer I got was somewhat confusing… Why would anyone care about what the original beer was? This beer was specifically made for barrels And they are not going to waste time trying to serve a sub par product no one wants. They never heard of any one wanting to compare an original beer with the bourbon barreled one.
Maybe I’ll wait another year to go back and try those other two stouts.
Stoutmaker.beer 