Boaks Monster Mash
his Russian Imperial Stout is an intensely flavorful beer. Chocolaty, roasty, fruity, and bittersweet, with a hidden alcohol presence. This beer was designed to be sipped slowly on a cool evening in a nice cognac glass. Let it warm up to get the full flavor. This beer won Best in Show at the 2005 NJ State Fair when Brian was home brewing.
3.5
182 reviews
Pompton Lakes, United States
Community reviews
Bottle at Paul’s for the Blind Stout tasting. Pours a deep brown to black with a touch of haze and a very thin white head around the edges. Lots of sweet old roast on the nose. Sweet and malty, ashy and a bit of bitterness. Long rusty charcoal and malt. Not great.
Poured from a 12 ounce bottle. Full on coffee, chocolate, caramel. Very nice easy drinking imperial stout. Not hot at all, this big beer drinks like a oatmeal stout. There are some dark fruit notes. Very well balanced.
Bottle. Very dark brown pour with a small off white head. Aroma is roasty and slightly fruity. Moderate palate for the style. Taste is slight fruit, licorice, roasted malts, and a bit of chocolate.
Bottle. Pours typical imperial stout black with a small tan head that dissipates, leaving a film on top of the beer. The aroma isn’t as pungent as others in the style but has some expresso, chocolate, and a little booziness. Taste is very chocolatey with a little coffee in the background. The palate is sticky and full. This one surprised me. One of the better imperial stouts that I have had to date.
Bottle. Pours big opaque black with nice tan tight creamy head. Aromas of pine, choc roast, coffee bean and a touch of touch of smoke. Med light body hoppy pine. Very easy drinking light finish with a touch of roast and choc sweetish balance with the piney hops lingering. Not all that complex for an IS but very good drinking.
Some light fruits on the nose surprisingly - peach and pear maybe, then some licorice, toffee, malt. Real dark, persistent thin head. First you notice its a medium bodied imperial stout - weird for the style. Root beer notes, more of those lighter juicier fruits. Confusing really.
Pours a deep cola, almost opaque hue, with the slightest mahogany-ruby fringes. The head is light and dissipating, choco-tan, leaving thin spotty lace. The nose is of roasted chocolate-covered strawberries. Flavors are almost commercially spot on... there is a definitive roasted note to a bitter and semi-sweet chocolate bark, accompanying a strawberry/cherry citrus that maximizes mid-palate. A roasted bitter closes the finish, providing a smoky effervescence to the pull. As the description suggests, one needs to let this warm before fully appreciating. Straight out of the fridge, it seems thin, stringent and milky. After letting it warm and "open up", many more roasted, fruity flavors come through, as well as a more relaxed, open palate. Appreciated.
12oz bottle. A dark thick brown with nice lasting medium brown head. Aroma of roasted caramel malt espresso note and cacao. Taste is a sweet bitter roasted caramel malt with some notes of coffee and cacao, some dark fruity tones as well with some bitter hops. Palate is a thick sweet full body with moderate carbonation and a rich thick mouth feel. Finish is sweet bitter roasted caramel malts with some burnt espresso cacao, some dark fruit followed by some nice mild bitter hops for balance. Overall a very good, drinkable ( considering a 10% alcohol) and tasty Russian IP.
A: Pitch black head, with just a bit of transparency around the edges when held to the light. A very faint skim of a head. No lacing.
S: Bittersweet chocolate and a bit of medium roast coffee. Not too much else.
T: More of the same. There is something slightly off, like the chocolate is an inferior grade and the coffee is from a Perkins or something. The two components don’t really come together and there is quite a bit left to desire. Not gross by any means, just doesn’t really cut it with the complex bold imperial stouts that are readily available.
M: "Lumpy" At times chewy, at times thin. The mouthfeel just isn’t fine tuned. Earthy bitter finish lingers a bit longer than it should.
O: In the end this is a passable imperial stout, but it just doesn’t offer enough to warrant a repeat.
Aroma of roasted coffee, dark fruits, and hints of anis. Pours black with a big foamy head. Tastes manly and dark. Roasted coffee, dark fruits, and delicious malty back. Big fan.
12oz bottle in a snifter. Pours very dark brown with a lacy, tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and chocolate plus some hops. Flavor about the same, not as strong as most other imperial stouts. Smooth texture. A decent beer, not the best for its style.
Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of dry roasted malt with light dry coffee notes and some black chocolate. Taste is also a good mix between some roasted malt with light dry coffee notes with some subtle bitter chocolate with some light lactose notes. Body is quite full with good carbonation. Well balanced classic imperial stout.
Smooth and roasty with hints of coffee and chocolate. A little watery overall, though.
On tap at The Deli in State College, PA. Pours a black body with a finger-width, creamy, light brown head that dissipates slowly and leaves a pretty nice lacing. Aroma is sweeter roasts and chocolate with some caramel and a good amount of darker fruits. Flavor is similar. Sweeter roasts and chocolates up front before a good amount of dark fruits come in. Some caramel, a touch of molasses, and a bit of an earthy hopping. Roasts kick it up a touch at the end before this finishes somewhat sweet and roasty with a good amount of chocolate and a light hop bitterness. Lengthy aftertaste following a medium body and a moderate carbonation. Overall, a pretty solid impy. Nothing special, but well balanced and enjoyable all-around. Nice beer.
Location: 12 oz bottle from Buy Rite, 9/25/11
Aroma: The nose is malts roasted malts and chocolate, sweetish for the style
Appearance: This one pours a dark brown color with a small head and light lace
Flavor: The taste is rather roasty/toasty, rather malty, somewhat sweet, but less so then the nose
Palate: The body is medium, it is somewhat creamy and sticky, with an average-to-soft carbonation
Overall Impression:
Interesting, this is from a NJ brewery I have never tried anything from before. Well as for the beer, it was solid. The nose lead me to believe that it would be a little sweeter flavor-wise then it was, but it actually turned out to be a really roast Impy Stout. It works alright for the style, and I didn’t have too many complaints, but it didn’t blow me away either. Still though, it is plenty good enough to be rated here.
Bottle. Pours a dark brown color with a small off-white head. Has a roasted malty caramel dark fruit aroma. Roasted malty chocoalte and caramel flavor. Has a roasted malty chocolate finish.
Tasted this on tap at the Selinsgrove Beer & Wine Festival
They hide the 10 % alcohol very well here.
Chicory and chocolate present.
Nicely done.
Stout black pour with no head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, dark fruit. Lots of roasted malt flavor with chocolate and dark fruits rounding out the flavor. Really nice beer.
Sampled at Lansdale Brew Fest 2011. This was a third hour beer. No obvious flaws, but tasted like a run of the mill oatmeal stout. Roast, oatmeal, not overly sweet or robust. Kind of a downer for an Imperial Stout.
On tap at Pints for Pets. Light chocolate and roasted barley aroma, little hops. Dark black opaque with thin cocoa lacing head. Medium-light bodied, medium carbonation. Alcohol warming. Starts sweet with molasses, chocolate and coffee, roasted barley, lactose. Light carbonic tang with tannic-phenolic roasted grain bitterness, mild hops. Finishes medium-heavy tang, not quite cloying, decent bitterness.
Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a black color with a large foamy brown head that lingered and left good lacing. The aroma was faint dry roasty malts and hints of vanilla and floral hops. The flavor was tart, bitter and lightly roasty with faint fruity and floral hops and a light licorice note. The finish was short, dryish, mildly hoppy and a bit roasty. Fairly full bodied. Underwhelming.
Pours dark, pretty much black with a thin white head. Aroma is highly roasty with notes of dark fruits and coffee grounds. Flavor is sharp and spicy, a little bit metallic, with a dark chocolate and alcohol finish. A tad thin. Not bad on its own, but not good compared to a lot of other imperial stouts.
Bottle. Pours near black with a beige head. Light roasty aroma with some old coffee like notes. The flavor has roasted malts, chocolate, some light dark fruity notes, and a hoppy hint. Not bad.
Blah. The only thing I can say good about this beer is that it hides the alcohol well. Aroma was painfully weak. Dust, earth and stale coffee. Pour was a c;ear dark brown with no bubbles and just a small tan half circle for a head. Taste was average at best. Roasted malt, earth, mud and chocolate. As it warms there is a nice milky/dairy aftertaste. Very thin mouth feel. Seems to turn to water as soon as it’s past the tonsils. Light carbonation. Not very good
Poured from 12oz bottle from JTclockwork. Pours black with lots of off-white head. Smell is smoke, dried fruit and band-aids. Taste is roasted coffee, some cocoa and smoked malts. Hides the alcohol well. The palate is a little watery for a stout.
Aroma is intense with dark fruit, almost like a dark belgian style. Pours dark brown with a hint of red and a tan head that remains through the entire glass, excellent lacing as well. Taste is mostly dark fruit, with a burnt chocolate or coffee finish. Slightly bubbly on the tongue, with a biting finish. Alcohol is well hidden.
On tap at the house of 1000 beers, new ken, nice place. Big black pour with a fairly thick head. Mild and friendly beer aroma, not like most coarse impy stouts. First taste and I’m surprised how acceptable this brew is. its not really that better, seems to be well made. BAlanced with some CO2 in there. Yep, much better than those over the top impy stouts, you’d never know this was 10%, it comes across more like a schawrtz beer, NICE! One of the more civilized and well made impy stouts I’ve tasted. Clever name, get it, monster ’mash’? heheh
12oz bottle shared by Doug
Appearance: Dark brown with a medium sized tan head and some lacing
Aroma: Dark malts, chocolate, caramel and dusty wood
Taste: Sour, dark fruits, caramel and chocolate
Nice, light for being a Imperial Stout but a good beer.
12 ounce bottle. Pours a pure black color with a medium beige head. A nose of dusty caramel, some light roast. The flavor is smooth and easy; metallic zest, almost sour, sweet caramel, light fruit, plums. Decent. Pretty light and easy for the style.
Bottle Pours a dark brown with a good tan head. The head lasts well and produces excellent lacing. Has a roasted malt aroma with sweet fruits, and citrus hops. Good carbonation. The flavor is decent, good bitterness but a huge metallic touch. Has an oily texture. The finish is okay and the aftertaste is real strong metallic. Not a bad beer good flavors but the metallic taste just over powers the goodness of this beer.