Warrior's Year 2000 Imperial Stout

**Chriso** · 07-20-2008, 04:38 PM

So, this started back in April over in PseudoChef's review thread... and long story short, I traded Warrior a couple bottles of my RIS for a bottle of his Aged Imperial Stout - The sticker he sent says 2/22/2000. That's a helluva old beer!

So I kept it in the fridge from Mid-May till now... wanted to make sure it leveled back out after being shipped...

Cracked it open today to celebrate my 2000th post. How fitting!!!

Aroma: BRILLIANT raisin body, not a lot of malt... Tons of oak, port, bourbon, sherry aromas... Oxidation within reasonable levels for an 8 year old beer... Notes of sherry, caramel and fig

Appearance: Poured with a dark tan 1/8" head that rapidly dissipated, inky black in the center of the glass, with a great dark tawny brown color around the edges.

Flavor: Raisin up front, very port like. Has a huge alcohol hotness in the middle of the taste, but it's only for a second. Then it finishes with a great chocolate and caramel and biscuit medley. No discernible hop taste, as is appropriate.

Mouthfeel: Some hotness/oxidation. Definitely a higher-ABV imperial, right? I'd say 10% without hesitiation - I'm fvcking tipsy right now! Great chewiness balanced with dryness at the same time. Huge fan here.

I'm not giving this a x/50 score, that's ludicrous. BJCP scoring is for fresh beers, not aged jewels like this one. This beer is truly excellent and has aged OH SO very well. Thank you SO MUCH for the opportunity to share in your bounty, Warrior! I hope you like my RIS!

**Warrior** · 07-21-2008, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chriso

So, this started back in April over in PseudoChef's review thread... and long story short, I traded Warrior a couple bottles of my RIS for a bottle of his Aged Imperial Stout - The sticker he sent says 2/22/2000. That's a helluva old beer!

So I kept it in the fridge from Mid-May till now... wanted to make sure it leveled back out after being shipped...

Cracked it open today to celebrate my 2000th post. How fitting!!!

Aroma: BRILLIANT raisin body, not a lot of malt... Tons of oak, port, bourbon, sherry aromas... Oxidation within reasonable levels for an 8 year old beer... Notes of sherry, caramel and fig

Appearance: Poured with a dark tan 1/8" head that rapidly dissipated, inky black in the center of the glass, with a great dark tawny brown color around the edges.

Flavor: Raisin up front, very port like. Has a huge alcohol hotness in the middle of the taste, but it's only for a second. Then it finishes with a great chocolate and caramel and biscuit medley. No discernible hop taste, as is appropriate.

Mouthfeel: Some hotness/oxidation. Definitely a higher-ABV imperial, right? I'd say 10% without hesitiation - I'm fvcking tipsy right now! Great chewiness balanced with dryness at the same time. Huge fan here.

I'm not giving this a x/50 score, that's ludicrous. BJCP scoring is for fresh beers, not aged jewels like this one. This beer is truly excellent and has aged OH SO very well. Thank you SO MUCH for the opportunity to share in your bounty, Warrior! I hope you like my RIS!

Chris,

Thanks for the feedback, I was very surprised how that RIS held up after 8 years. I had bottles that were oxygen asorbing caps that helped them hold up, also had capped some regular caps and they were much more oxidized more of the dry and cardboard type oxidation. The only reason I had them left is I quit brewing and forgot about them in the basement after not brewing for 8 years. Your RIS was very good and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I can't give you a detailed review that you gave mine as I wasn't as patient and drank it the 1st week after getting it but it was right on style.

Just brewed 11 gal of that RIS on Friday night, the 1st time I've brewed that since 2000.
What a long night started at 5:00 and didn't get to bed till 2:00! It was fermenting away Sat morning and I'll have to send you some of them next year in a swap.