Dark Horse Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

4.6/5

AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20

Review 300! 12 ounce bottle into snifter 2011 bottle. Pours opaque black color with an extremely dense 2 finger dark tan head with incredible retention that reduces to a thick lacing cap that lasts. Some nice thick lacing is on the glass as well. Aromas of big espresso, dark chocolate, roasted malts, caramel, with a small amount of vanilla and booze. Huge aromas, very nice balance as well. Taste of big dark chocolate, caramel, espresso, and a bit of vanilla; with some decent bitterness in the back accompanied with a bit of booziness. Lingering notes of light espresso-like bitterness, roasted flavor, and chocolate that linger for a decent amount of time. Insanely creamy and slick body that goes down surprisingly smooth despite being 12%. Alcohol is nicely hidden, not much on the taste and a decent warming on the finish; I was expecting it. Light-medium carbonation and huge full body. Overall, this is just a beautiful Russian Imperial Stout. Extremely well crafted, and I need to go pick up a 4 pack of this to age, I hope there is still some around.

This one is definitely one that I would like to try and buy for some aging. It is this good when it is fresh, I can't even imagine what I will be like with a year or two on it.