Pours a deep opaque brown/black into a snifter with a one finger tan head.

Nose is relatively mild. Smokey roasted coffee, chocolate, some vanilla and caramel. Bit of hot alcohol. There seems to be an interesting sweet bubble gum aroma sneaking in as it warms. Almost takes on some Belgian characteristics and starts to smell more like a Quad.

Mouthfeel is full bodied with medium carbonation, silky and smooth with a slightly dry finish. The amount of carbonation on this is pretty much perfect. Overall, mouthfeel is one of the better aspects of this beer - it's a pleasure to drink.

Taste is roasted barley, coffee, big chocolate near the end and some slight hoppy bitterness in the finish. The linger is mostly smokey semi-sweet chocolate. Some hot alcohol bite throughout. Nothing poking out over the top on this one - all well balanced.

The balance keeps the drinkability right up there with the best of imperial stouts.

Overall I have to say I was expecting more out of this one. It gets a lot of hype, but I'm having trouble pinpointing what about it would set it apart from other top-shelf imperial stouts. The balance is quite nice and it's highly enjoyable, just not as good as I was expecting. That said, this is still a fantastic stout which seems to really open up with some more complex flavors as it warms.