Arcadia Imperial Stout
Our extraordinary Imperial Stout is black as midnight with a rich, palate warming mouth feel. It offers an alluring aroma of dark roasted malts and blackstrap molasses with a hint of smoke. The flavor features notes of coffee, bittersweet cocoa, black licorice and hints of prune. A generous addition of hops contributes to the complexity and balance, and gives the liquid a pleasantly astringent finish. With proper aging, our Imperial Stout matures for up to fours years. It is winner of a prestigious Gold Medal for Bottle Conditioned Ale at 2002 Real Ale Festival.
3.7
560 reviews
, United States
Community reviews
Black licorice is the first taste. Chocolate. Sugary and sweet. 12oz bottle pour at kincaides. Marshmallow and oily aroma. Decent but thought it was a little highly rated here
10/4/14. Bought a 4pk @ RW. Gave 1 to Luke.
Dark and thin head. Not a lot of aroma. Pretty meh
Pours black. Aroma and taste are roasted malts that starts sweet and finishes mildly bitter.
355 ml bottle, 2010 vintage, at home. Black color with nice beige-brown head. Aroma is roasted malty with a lot of coffee, chocolate, some vanilla and wood, fruity (blackberries?) and some alcohol. Taste is light sweet and it becomes heavy bitter almost from the beginning. Coffee and chocolate again in the taste. Medium body, creamy, soft carbonation, nice alcoholic warming bitter finish.
Pours a dark brown with a thin tan foam head. Has an aroma of smokey wood, malts, and sweet dark fruits (perhaps the currants). Flavor is smoke, wood, chocolate, and malts, with a dose of bitterness. A unique, very tasty stout.
Bottle. Pitch dark pour with half a finger of mocha head. Chocolate, coffee, oak, vanilla, tire. Very big body. Roasty bitterness yet vanilla sweetness throughout. Pretty nice
It pours thick and dark. The color is a very dark brown/black with a light brown head on top. Its head is nice tightly packed two finger thick foam that has very good retention and slick lacing. The aroma has a full rich nose of sweet and roasted barley with a touch of woody and smokey malt. The hops add an almost citrus like note and there is a noticeable hint of the alcohol. Its flavor is full of dark roasted malty character and complexity. There are flavor notes from sweet molasses and maple sugar to coffee, bitter dark chocolate and woody/smoke/charred malt with bitter herbal and citrus like hops. Mellow nutty/grainy alcohol notes mix in as well and add anther layer of complexity. The palate is firm and smooth with just enough carbonation to give it some life.
9th May 2014
Leighton 10K tasting at Bruce’s pad. Thanks to Leighton for this vintage stout. Opaque dark brown beer, small pale tan head. Light palate. Oxidised dark malt, tangy too. Trace of dark fruits. Light dry finish. Cleary a little weary but still interesting.
Bottle split at the Black (IPA) Friday tasting, 2010 vintage, thanks to LKS 09/05/14.
Black with a moderate tan covering that thins to edgework.
Nose is fruit cake, light spice, figs, dates, dark chocolate, raisens.
Tase comprises much the same.
Medium + body, fine carbonation, semi drying close.
Decent impy, has aged gracefully, alcohol well integrated.
Bottle shared in London - picked up in NYC way back when I lived there. As such, this is a 2010 vintage. Nice aroma, some sugary milk chocolate, dark fruits, Hershey’s chocolate bar. Medium sweet flavor, lots of aged, liquefied dark fruits, chocolate, dark cherries, soft wood, mellow bitterness. Medium to full bodied with fine carbonation. Well balanced on the finish, lightly warming, good rainy character, milk chocolate, other dark fruits. Really nicely balanced and deep. Has aged quite well!
Bottle thanks to Leighton. It pours darkest brown with a minimal light tan head. The nose is toasty, earthy, coffee, cocoa, dirt and fudge. The taste is rich, sweet, dirty, toffee, caramel, candy, toast, earth, light spice, dirt and wood with a dry finish. Medium and fine carbonation. Fine.
From bottle. Pours an opaque jet black with a medium beige head. Aroma of roasted malts, a little smoky, chocolate. Taste is the same, a little sweetness, some hoppy bitterness. Nicely balanced. Lightly carbonated. Some lacing. A delicious stout.
From a 12 oz bottle shared at home. Pours black with a tan head. Milk chocolate nose. Flavors of licorice, roasted grains, and hints of bittersweet chocolate. Medium to heavy body, moderate carbonation, Bitter roasted finish.
@ Party Source / Bellvue KY Opaque black with a dark tan head that quickly drops to the rim, dots of lace. Aroma of toasted malt. Taste is roasted malt at its best, moving beautifully through the palate while adding honey biscuit and a hint of chocolate, only to give too much up adding prunes and hops in an average finish. If only the opening had continued....
Not a lot of aroma, only lingering chocolate malt. Medium body, medium alcohol finish. Just ok for me.
Bottle share thanks to droofus. Slight scent of Ohio initially. Moderate cocoa and chocolate. Slightly bitter like dark chocolate and almost harsh. Slightly astringent. Somewhat thin. Overall decent but could be bigger with a more chewy viscous mouthfeel
Pours very deep dark blackish color. Aroma is roasty, grainy, some vanilla character, lots of alcohol. Semi sweet malt, toasty, some vanilla.
What’s to say. Very solid Imperial Stout. Sweet with Light bitterness. Flavor of chocolate and coffee, some roastiness. Very good.
Shared the 2007 vintage as the commercial example of Russian Imperial Stout at last night’s St. Louis Brews meeting. Wow, what a missed opportunity! Opaque black with no head or lace. Basic stout characteristics, slight fruitiness, charcoal, no hops, lots of alcoholic heat, very mushy and cardboardy. I know moderate oxidation can add complexity to this style, but I gotta think this one was way past its prime.
Pours black with a thin tan head that quickly dissipates.aroma smoke, cocoa,soy, coffee,dried dark fruit.flavor of burnt sugars,espresso,bitter cocoa,and soy.full bodied,slick mouth feel,low carbonation.long bitter finish. I have i just purchased at 9 abs and 90 ibu’s but a different label.
From a 2010 bottle. Says 90 IBUs and has a different label.
Poured in a smallish Eku tulip glass.
Pours a ruby black with large brown head and lace.
Aroma of dark roasted malts and burnt marshmallows, with a touch of powdered sugar, dark chocolate and light oxidation.
Med carbonation and penetrating mouthfeel.
Flavors of dark roasted malts, cooking chocolate, light espresso, minerals and smoke. Overall big, tasty, dark, rich, but a bit musty. Has held up nicely with age though it was probably better with less than a year of age. I’ll slide the scale up a bit based on this assumption and that it has held up relatively well with age.
12oz to snifter. Dark pour with a darker brown head. Roasted malt flavor. Sweet and bitter.
Bottle from icehawk. Pours black with a medium brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, a little peat, and some fruitiness. Taste is heavy sweet, medium bitter. Finish is roasted with a little alcohol. Decent imperial stout.
Black/brown used motor oil pour with eighth inch of cocoa head. Very strong malty scent, cereal malts, dark fruits, raisins, dates, charred oak and bourbon, carbon/licorice too. Low carbonation, oily mouthfeel, ashly finish. Taste follows the nose with less prevalent malt, dark fruits and bourbon, very smokey and peaty, charred oak too. Light mouthfeel is unique as well as the lack of big maltiness. Lacks some complexity but this is a scotch lovers stout for sure.
This beer is solid and black, with absolutely no light traveling through its body. It’s topped by a dense, bright, almost orange-tinted light/medium-brown head. The aroma is chocolaty, so velvety and smooth that it seems like there may be some oats hiding in the grain bill somewhere. You can tell that serious roasted characteristics has something to do with this beer, even though only a trace of almost indistinguishable, almost spicy intensity exists in the nose.
In the mouth, not much chocolate remains, but fresh coffee ground-like roasted flavors certainly do. It’s super soft, like a sheet of fuzzy silk gently dragging across your top lip. Light (but definite) alcohol and hop bitterness controls the beer’s character, with roasted malt and hop bitterness teaming up to spice things up even more in the finish. As it warms, more chocolate and a little Play-Doh really come forward and the bitterness isn’t as harsh. Think about it... if you put some coffee grounds in a ball of Play-Doh, then tried to eat it, which would overpower which? A mouthful of Play-Doh, in its heavy, almost sour fullness is likely more dominating than a little fresh coffee grounds. At least in my book.
2010 vintage, pours dark with low carb, aroma is roast, taste is very smooth and bitter roast, nice one
Bottle. Near black with a dark head. Big molasses and chocolate aromas. Dark sugar and heavy malt. Boozy.
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 10/24/2011. Pours fairly pitch black color with a 2 finger dense and fluffy tan head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Dense foamy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of dark chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, molasses, light char, light smoke, toast, licorice, light raisin, and roasted earthiness. Pretty nice aromas with good balance and complexity of roasted/dark malt notes; with decent strength. Taste of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, roasted malt, char, light smoke, molasses, toast, raisin, and roasted earthiness. Moderate amount of roasted coffee bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, roasted malt, molasses, toast, char, light smoke, raisin, and roasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice balance and complexity of dark and roasted malt flavors with a light amount of fruitiness; with a solid bitterness/sweetness balance and no cloying flavors after the finish. Medium-high carbonation and medium-full body; with a creamy, slick, and lightly prickly mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a nice imperial stout. Good balance and complexity of flavors; and smooth to sip on. A nicely enjoyable offering.
Bottle (12 oz). 2010 vintage. Thanks David! Black with a small beige head and little lacing. Aroma of roasted malt, black currants, vanilla, liquorice and light caramel. Taste is moderately sweet with black currants, roasted malt, vanilla, liquorice and light coffee. Light bitterness. Medium body. Oily mouthfeel. Acidic presence. Alcohol well hidden. The black currants presence is quite interesting although the balance isn’t perfect. Not easily drinkable. A fun beer, but not one that I would buy on a regular basis.
Bottle. 4/6/13. Pours dark brown-black with a thin, oily brown head. Aroma is nutty, chocolate, vanilla, toffee, booze, grapes. Taste is dry, fruit, booze, wood earth, nutty, chalky; with a long bitter chocolate finish. Incredibly dry throughout; very little sweetness. That being said, it’s still very well-balanced. Little lacing. Relatively low carbonation. Smooth, slick mouth feel. Overall, well crafted; one to be respected. I would have liked more maltiness.