Karl Strauss Wreck Alley Imperial Stout
Beneath the tides off Mission Beach rests Wreck Alley – a dark and mysterious seascape of forgotten ships. Amidst the rusted wreckage is a marine ecosystem, an artificial reef teeming with life. Our Wreck Alley is as dark as the depths of its namesake, an Imperial Stout of uncharted complexity. Brewed with darkly kilned malts, cocoa nibs, and Ethiopian coffee beans, Wreck Alley boasts rich layers of dark chocolate, toffee, and espresso-like roast. Save a bottle. This one has a stout shelf-life.
3.7
247 reviews
San Diego, United States
Community reviews
This had a medium amount of coffee. The flavor is a bit sweet as it goes on. Just not that great of an imperial stout.
Bottle. Dark brown black. Thin brown head. Taste is light to medium sweet and medium bitter. Medium body. Aroma and flavour is orange, chocolate, toffee, liquorice.
(Tap) clear, bright very dark brown colour with a small brown head; aroma of roast, dried fruit; balanced flavour, well hidden alcohol, long light bitter finish
15.02.2014, 0,75l bottle sampled @ RBNG14:
Tiny shortlasting head. Aroma is kind of strange, dark malts, licorice, ash, chili, grass, coffee, dark sugar, ashtray. Taste is slightly sweet, dark malts, caramel, licorice, chocolate, dark sugar, hay, grass, hints of almond essence. Medium bitterness, dry mouthfeel. Boring.
Dark brown pour at Karl Strauss. Coffee and roasted malt nose. Delicious taste, balanced of some sweet malt character with dark chocolate and coffee. Really good.
Bottle thanks to Chow. Pours a very dark brown with small beige head that lasts. The aroma is cocoa, roast, wood. Medium body, licorice, dark chocplate, wood, bitter finish, decent.
Pours dark black with some foam, heavy malt smell and taste, bitter finish with some anise, medium mouthfeel, bottle.
Of course a good beer in the scope of all beers. And i love the spiciness. But within the style, it's lacking a huge full body at 9% abv.
Nez vraiment excellent : très chocolat/café, de franches figue voire cassis.
Bouche très douce, très chocolat, café plus modéré. Longueur ultra ronde et gourmande, des côtés noisettes, un peu cassis. Super.
Imperial stout très sympa, accessible même à ceux qui ne seraient pas familiers du style, elle est très aromatique mais douce et buvable.
Très noire comme il se doit, le corps est relativement épais sans être complètement huileux. Odeurs assez douces de café et de chocolat, pointes de malt grillés.
Arômes assez importants, bien équilibrés: l’arrière plan est doux, comme du chocolat au lait renforcé par du chocolat noir, avec un peu de gras. Sur le devant c’est le café qui l’emporte, notes importantes de café froid. Arômes nets, bien distincts. Ces arômes s’amenuisent au bout de quelques secondes pour laisser la place au houblon, avec une belle amertume finale.
Très bel équilibre entre les arômes et l’amertume.
taste is of old wood, maybe shipwrecked wood. Not so great IS.not incredible beer. lasting light mocha coloured head.
On tap at Karl Strauss Downtown San Diego. Black with a tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee and some licorice. Similar taste, also with hints of medicine. Some warming alcohol in the finish.
Sampled from a 0.65l bottle @ RBNG 2014. This is a deep dark brown looking one with a small sidesticking dark beige top. Soft roasted nose, a fair amount of hops is detected, as is chocolate, cold coffee and malt drops - all located here in a pretty well smelling blend of aromas. Lots of flavor. It’s a tad chocolate sweet, I get some strong roasted flavors here but it’s also somewhat dark caramel sweet. Vanilla, coffee and lingering chocolate in the finish and aftertaste. Lots of flavor and quite a good tasting one. 15.02.2014
This is better than I was expecting. Typical coffee aromas yield a very nice balance of bitterness and chocolaty sweetness with a very creamy palate.
66cl bottle. 27-04-2015.
BBD: 12/2015.
Pours dark with nice off white head. Coffee aromas and flavours, subtle one Light body, soft carbonation, oily texture. TAste is mild bitter. More like a sweet dunkel.
Black color with a beige head, short duration. Aroma has notes of roasted malts, black ripe fruit and coffee beans. Flavor is coffee, licorice, roasty, light bittery. Coffee final with roasted mouthfeel.
Tap at a beer fest. Nice stout, smooth. Quite chocolatey. Thin-ish head. Worth trying.
Bottle: Very deep amber coloured with a shy ruby sheen, small persistent tanned head; moderate to solid sweet-bitter nose of roasted malt, dark chocolate and fresly ground coffee, faint leathery flavours presumably in the background; moderate to solid bitter-sweet flavour, full bodied with a silky MF; dark chocolate, coffee and toasted malt , accompanied by a certain fruitiness , in the lingering bitter-sweet finish. A very pleasant winter-warmer...
Bottle a black colored beer with a white-off head aroma roasted malts spicy caramel coffee dried fruits laurel and hops flavor roasted malts spicy chocolate coffee cacao dried fruits laurel caramel and bitter hops
imperialny stout uwarzony został z dodatkiem ziaren kakao i etiopskiej kawy. Kakaowiec jest tu bardzo intensywny i pięknie współgra z nutami mocno palonej kawy. Towarzyszą im ciemne owoce i ciemne słody. Piwo jest mocno słodowe, choć na początku słodkawe, ma bardzo wytrawny i goryczkowy finisz. Polecam!
Bottle @home. Pours black biggish tan head. Nose is chocolate slight coffee. Taste is dark chocolate bitterness, some slight vanilla sweetness and liquorice.
Tapped at Karl Strauss in San Diego. Almost pitch black color. Thick beige head. Fantastic aroma of mik chocolate. awesome nose piercing milk chocolate and good minor espresso. Taste is medium sweet milk chocolate, minor espresso. Bitter chocolate finish. Alcohol absolutely not present hence a very dangerous beer! Fantastic imperial stout!
Bottle shared with friends at Silver Strand State Beach. Nice and dark. Lots of coffee and chocolate and an alcoholic finish
Bottle pours out black topped with a small tan head. Nose is roast malts some coffee chocolate sweetness and a nice light smoke. Taste is more of the heavy roast malts chocolate sweetness and a some ashtray notes.
Bottle from cons 2016-08-17 Mölndal - de Molen webshop
AR: roasted malt, chocolate, coffey, sweet liqurice
AP: black, frothy brown head
F: rich carbonation, caramel, baket chocolate, wee warming feeling, white sugary,
1 pint 6 fl oz bottle thanks to Nisse666, shared on August 17, 2016.
BB 12/2015.
Black color, tan head. Malty, fudge, a bit sweet, some chocolate scent. Malty, fudge, hints of liquorice taste. Malty, grainy aftertaste. Medium light mouthfeel, medium bitterness.
From 22 oz bottle, bought @ De Bierkoning, more than a year ago. Pours a black color, and a beige head with short retention. Aroma’s: sweet, dark malts, mocha, fruit, drop/licorice, chocolate, light roast. Retronasal: roasty, salty drop/licorice, sweet coffee. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet, chocolate-y. Medium bodied. Long finish, roasted malts, hardly any bitterness.
Aroma:
Medium/heavy aroma of malts, caramel, chocolate, roasted malts and coffee.
Appearance:
Opaque black beer with a slight beige/brown head.
Taste/Palate:
Starts medium/heavy sweet with malts, caramel and chocolate; ends slightly bitter and dry with roasted malts and coffee.
Overall:
This beer is intense and balanced, but lacks complexity. Should have had way more depth for how sweet it was, but it was still great. Rather disappointing that the alcohol is definitely noticeable at the end.
Drank with Kaspar and Bram after the BBQ 15-7-2016. Good stout. Not very bitter, more licqorice and roast. Rich taste.
Bottled (thanks MT). Deep brown, close to black, colour with a mediumsized beigeish brown head. Aroma is coffee, chocolate, some toffee and mild herbal notes. Flavour is chocolate, liquorice toffee, some mild wooden and herbal notes with a mild floral edge to it. Some slight roasted and coffeeish notes in the finish.