Imperial Extra Double Stout - Harvey & Son, Sussex

Harvey & Son's Imperial Extra Double Stout is a pretty intimidating beer. Just look at that name! If this didn't have an official Tsarist seal on the label I'd figure it was a poorly translated Japanese import along the lines of "Ultra Super Happy Mega Fun Time Stout." Actually, this beer has a pretty impressive history dating back to the early 19th century. Le Coq, the original brewer of this beer, won a contract to brew for the Russian Royal Family after gaining notoriety for gifting generous amounts of stout to injured Russian soldiers during the Crimean War. This beer was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas in 1912 and was brewed in Estonia. As you can imagine, World War I and the Bolsheviks put an end to this decadent bourgeois beer. What makes this beer so special that it's been resurrected after 90 years?

Well, for starters this is a pretty extreme beer. It lives up to its Imperial Extra Double Stout name. This beer is pitch black, smells like caramel and soy sauce, tastes like a very high percent cacao dark chocolate bar and to top it all of it's 10% alcohol. It's almost too much of a good thing... This beer has a great flavor combination, it has hints of caramel, molasses and vanilla but what stands out most is that dark chocolate. This isn't a Chocolate Stout though and the dark chocolate quickly becomes a tart and tannic finish that leaves you with just a faint hint of coffee.

There are a ton of rich, dark flavors in this beer and it may not be for everyone. After all, how many people really want to drink the same beer over the period of an hour? If you've got the attention span to make it though twelve ounces of this black-as-midnight Stout then you'll enjoy this beer quite a bit. If you don't find super dark beers all that palatable, you might want to pick up something a little lighter.