Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout

Harvey's Imperial Extra Double Stout
Style: Imperial Stout

Alcohol Content: 9%

From: Lewes, East Sussex, United Kingdom 

Purchased From: Corbetts Real Ale Shop, Dorking, Surrey

http://www.harveys.org.uk/

This beer is a re-creation of a classic 19th century beer. During the Victorian era, London became well known for brewing stouts. London's hard water was perfect for brewing these pints of happiness and as the centre of commerce, these beers began to be exported world wide. One of these happy customers were the old Russian Empire. As a developing economy, Russia soon grew very envious of the British position as an economic powerhouse. In order to "keep up with the Jones", Russia began to import vast quantities of strong stout (typically above the  five percent sold in the UK). Sensing a unique business opportunity, Albert Le Coq began shipping beer to Russia directly from London in 1820s. His export business was initially very successful, however, by 1904 the business was faced with a number of challenges. High custom levies and frequent forging forced Le Coq's company to search for a new home inside the Russian Empire. A site at Tartu in modern day Estonia was eventually selected and the brewery went from strength to strength up until the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. The new Bolshevik soon began to nationalise all the breweries in the USSR and this beer was slowly phased out of production.

It wasn't until the mid the late 1980's until this beer would reappear again. Lewes based brewer Harvey's began negotiating with the descents of Albert Le Coq to acquire the original recipe. Soon very limited numbers of this beer began to appear for sale directly from the brewery and staying true to its legacy the Imperial Stout was awarded Gold at the International Beer Challenge 2012 and Gold in the Stouts and Porters Category at the International Beer Challenge 2013. Hopefully this beer lives up to its sky high reputation and history.
     

Colour: Pouring a dark, jet black complete with a small tan coloured head, Harvey Imperial Double stout just encourages you to delve into its murky depths. The head will dissipate very quickly once in the glass, which disappoints me slightly as I really love a dense head on my stouts.

Aroma: As soon as I opened the bottle I smelt the acidic stench of vinegar. My first thought was perhaps the bottle was out of date or spoiled. I have been burnt by this before and I can remember the bitter disappointment of pouring the beer down sink. Seriously worried, I visited the Harvey's website in order to locate some tasting notes. Needless to say I was delighted to read that this vinegar aroma was indeed part of the nose of this beer. Thank God! Soon this sensation slowly lifts to give way to hints of dark chocolate and liquorice. Yum!

Body: This stout was actually a lot thinner than I was expecting, but I guess with this level of alcohol, it's hard for any beer feel dense. Perhaps my lusting after a bottle of Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout has some what skewed my vision of what a perfect stout should be, but this drink is very, very different to this ideal. Without a hint of carbonation to speak, this beer feels like thick oil greasing every crevasse of your mouth. As it slowly sips down your throat, the alcohol will release a slight burn. This is definitely a slow drink to enjoy over the course of an evening.

Taste: As eluded to earlier, the first sip can be rather abrasive. The sour vinegar mixed with burnt coffee and bitter dark chocolate is certainly not to everyone's tastes. As the drink warms, the flavours begin to mellow. The vinegar notes become similar to that of sour dark cherries. The whole drink begins to taste like a divine slice of black Forrest cake with a subtle hint of soy sauce. Interesting combination hey? I personally really enjoyed this beer but be warned, this is not a beer for beginners! A beer with these qualities need to be worked up to, otherwise you will be put off for life and you will never get to enjoy this beautiful complex drink in all its glory. Sip it and serve at room temperature.

Similar to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/kernel-brewery-london-1890-export-stout.html

Different to: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/windsor-and-eton-brewery-canberra.html

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Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

Style: IPA

Alcohol Content: 7.2%

From: Chico, California, USA

Purchased From: Tesco

Located in Chico, California,Sierra Nevada Brewing is one of the top craft breweries currently operating in the United States. Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale is the second best-selling craft beer in the United States, behind the Boston Beer Company's Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It is currently the sixth-largest brewing company in the United States.The brewery produced 786,000 barrels of beer in 2010.

The brewery was named "Green Business of the Year" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 for its practices in sustainability.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded in 1979, with founders Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi expanding their homebrewing hobby into a brewery in Chico, California. Along with the brewery's location, Grossman claims the company's name comes from his love of hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.With $50,000 in loans from friends and family, Grossman & Camusi rented a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) warehouse and pieced together discarded dairy equipment and scrapyard metal to create their brewing equipment.They later were able to acquire second-hand copper brewing kettles from Germany before moving to their larger, current brewing facility in 1989.

In January 2012, Sierra Nevada announced it will build a second brewing facility with an attached restaurant in Mills River, North Carolina. It is scheduled to open in early 2014.

I have sampled Sierra Nevada's pale a couple of times but this is the first times I have tried there Torpedo. Lets hope the Torpedo hits its target! Damn that's cheesy. 

Colour: A beautiful golden brown colour. Once poured you get a luscious think white head that temps you into the beer. This head dissipates after a couple of minutes in the glass but leaves a little foam for you to play around with. The colour is warm and inviting, it makes you want to dive right in.

Aroma: Once in the glass you can pick up notes of freshly cut grass and newly fallen pine needles. This has to be the first beer I have reviewed that smelled likes pine. Maybe my nose is developing and I can pick up new scents or I'm just becoming a beer snob. I hope it's not the latter as that's the last thing I want to become. Smelling deeper, you can pick up notes of fresh pink grapefruit and tropical fruits. These amazing aromas come from the three hops used in the making of this beer. These hoppy buds of love are Citra, magnum and Crystal.

Body: This is a lovely easy to drink beer. However, It can be a little sticky in the mouth and it has a semi bitter after taste which comes from the three hop combination used in the making of this beer.

Taste: Just like the nose, you can pick up notes of grass and pine. After swallowing the beer, you will receive a slight caramel and biscuit after taste in your mouth. This is extremely tasty and satisfying. There is an outstanding balance of flavor and bitterness from the hops. this comes from the dry hopping technique employed in making of this beer. In summary a very fresh beer and the ABV is extremely well hidden. A real treat for the senses and well worth a second visit or five.

Sink the Ship!

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