Laughing Dog The Dogfather Imperial Stout
Non Barrel Aged
3.7
438 reviews
Ponderay, United States
Community reviews
Aged bottle - pours black with flecks of brown, thin tan head. Aroma is sweet chocolate, vanilla, roasted malts, and a hint of booze...inviting. Flavor is quite sweet...lots of chocolate flavors along with a mash of malts...little bitterness to offset things. Splash of vanilla, but not really getting any bourbon/barrel aging. Carbonation is good given the age/style - alcohol very well hidden. I actually enjoyed this stout, even if it wasn’t what I was really expecting in some ways. Definitely on the sweet end of the spectrum, even for the style...
22 oz bottle.
Dark, nearly opaque, ruby hues, tan head, spotty lace.
Initial aroma of wet wood, leads into bourbon, coffee, chocolate, roasted grain.
Flavor is bourbon and chocolate up front, roasted grain, oak, slight hop bitterness.
Black pour with a thin espresso head. Aroma of milk and sugar, a little smoke. Taste is bitter and has a nice bite to it. Hints of dark chocolate. Not getting much oak from the barrel aged portion. Not overly sweet, which is nice for a stout like this. Medium mouth.
Pours a typical stout "black" with a thick tannish head. Aroma of chocolate, smells really sweet. Taste of "burnt" chocolate (I’ve never tasted burnt chocolate) really sweet can’t taste the booze. Overall probably the sweetest stout I have ever had, not bad though.
Well balanced with the coffee and chocolate notes expected from the style. Warming and big and nearly black with a good backbone of bitterness to offset the malt. It is tough for me to find, so it was a nice treat on a cold afternoon.
Bottle. Pours nearly black with thick creamy head that lingers. Malt aroma with mild carbonation. Excellent balance of coffee and chocolate flavor. Substantial mouthfeel.
Julie gives a 3.5. Kind of malty. Got a lot of bitter big bold one
"Louis, I’m feeling ya on this one. Not sure if there are quality control issues or what but this was a 99th percentile beer before we had it? Way rough around the edges, all kinds of overdone flavor and aroma components and a good dose of unpleasantness. Didn’t finis the bomber..."
Poured from 22 oz. bottle.
Opaque, brown-black with a brown head and good lacing.
Aroma of roasted malt, dark chocolate, oak, bourbon and vanilla.
Taste of rich dark chocolate, roasted malt, toffee, alcohol, bourbon, vanilla, oak and roasted coffee.
Medium/full body and medium carbonation.
22 oz. Pours a pitch black color, medium-sized small tan head. Aroma was notes of roasted malts, dark chocolate, perhaps some bitter coffee notes. Flavor was smooth roasted malts, chocolate, vanilla, some woody oak notes. A bit warm to be drinking this, I best it would be great in the wintertime.
Stout-dark pour with a thick caramel-colored head. It has the usual coffee and chocolate notes with a nice bitter kick at the end that seems more chocolate than coffee or hops.
Une bouteille partagée. Une robe brune avec une mousse aussi brun. Un nez de tire éponge (celle qui colle au dents). Une bouche puissante d’alcool. Simple et sans envergure. Elle manque de corps. La finale est astringente et n’invite aucunement à reprendre une autre gorgée.
Merveilleuse mousse brune sur cette robe qui pourrait bien être noire. Je n’ai pas fait très attention à la dentelle. À ce stade-ci, je peux voir quelques traces éparpillées. D’entrée de jeu, les malts se cachent derrière un fût de bourbon bien boisé et des houblons qui me semblent perdre de longs parfums herbacés. La première gorgée n’impressionne pas mes papilles. La seconde et les suivantes placent des saveurs chocolatées et fruitées à la remorque d’un alcool malhabilement aromatisé aux herbes piquantes. En bouche, le liquide a un corps de moyenne densité avec un pétillement actif et une texture crémeuse. La finale chaude est chocolatée, amère, astringente, piquée et plus ou moins agréable. Vieille bouteille ou simplement pas fait pour moi?
Thanks to Lee for the bottle. Thick black pour. Roasted malt, chocolate, hint of soy sauce in aroma. Big thick malt body with lots of chocolate and roasted barley. Very good.
Bottle: Thanks, Tyler. Black, with only some dark brown at the very top, capped with a lightly frothy layer of mocha cream. Aroma is... unexpected. Musty oak, tart notes of cherry & grape skin with only a mild, hard to find hint of roast behind it all. Smells like it might be infected. Oddly enough, no sign of infection or "tartness" in the flavor at all. Decadent, dark chocolate & fudge, roasted malts, wood, very tame bourbon, dry cocoa powder, & a lightly tannic finish. Small reminders of maple come out with warmth. Literally none of the tart fruit character is present in the flavor. Smooth, pretty creamy body. Very strange how the aroma & flavor are so mismatched... Smelled like it might be infected, tasted very good actually. How is this possible? With the better nose, this would be a very, very good beer.
Pours jet black, with ample tannish brown head. Aroma is malt with bourbon, beautiful. Taste is heavily of stout and bourbon. Smooth, drinkable, complex, and well blended. Thumbs way up. This one is good.
Pitch black with a thin filmy brown head; Good lacing. Aroma of chocolate malts, vanilla, oak, caramel and bourbon. Flavors of vanilla, oak, chocolate malts, roasted barley with a roasty & bitter hop aftertaste. Heavy body with some mild carbonation. Quite tasty!
Pours thin black with faint head and lace. Runny in the glass. Holy cow, tastes like a lot of vanilla and chocolate with a good bitter finish. Not a bad dessert.
Rich chocolate aroma with a hint of the bourbon barrel. Pours thick black with a tan head. Smooth flavors, long bourbon finish.
Great! Great aroma and flavor. Come to the Rhino in Missoula, MT! Good good good
Bottle - Chocolate, molasses and some dark fruit. Jet black with a rich light brown head. Dark chocolate, roasty bitterness, a bit of hop character and some coffee in the finish.
Pours a dark color with a brown head. Aroma is of coffee, caramel malts, a little bit of oak, and some molasses. Flavor is very similar with plenty of coffee and roasted malts. Some oak comes out on the finish with the roasted malts. A slight hint of alcohol and some bitterness on the finish. Overall a great beer.
22oz bomber poured into a brandy snifter. Right off the bat, dark fruits hit the nose; primarily sweet cherries, strawberries, and maybe even some plum aromas. This is followed up by a woody / piney aroma, which later into the drink, I pegged as bourbon - either I misidentified this early, because the woodsy and pine aromas disappeared, or the bourbon took over. By the end, the bourbon aromas even have a slight warming quality on the nose. There’s a fairly prevalent caramel / butterscotch aroma just under the fruits, and, even further down, there’s some mild milk chocolate notes. After some time, I even began to pick up some sugary bread notes - like a muffin or scone. A big, frothy espresso tan head sits atop this very dark, nearly opaque, red-brown beer. It seems like the head wants to leave behind a nicer lacing, but I got a splotchy lacing (maybe the brandy snifter is just too exaggerated a bulge for the lace to stay put). The carbonation is visibly active. I also noticed some sediment at the bottom of the bottle, although I couldn’t find any mention of being bottle conditioned on the label - I would say it requires further investigation, but nothing struck me as "off," so I was just very careful with the pour. A medium-heavy dose of sweetness of chocolate, cherries, and raisins hits the tongue first with a very mild-light chocolate bitterness. There’s also a notable bourbon-alcohol presence, but absent the warming effect down the throat that one might expect from bourbon. The very active carbonation keep this one pretty light for an Imp Stout and also keeps it less sticky than it wants to be. It’s pretty smooth drinking, maybe a medium bodied beer in the grand scheme of things (at least its lighter than most Imp Stouts). The finish is interesting - it starts out with a smokey bourbon bite that fades quickly and cleanly leaving behind only a very dry, mellow chocolate and ashy aftertaste. Give it some time and the aftertaste becomes a very mellow hop-esque with the some faint chocolate.
This is a chocolaty stout, full and smooth. It has a sweet, roasted flavor and a sweet, bitter chocolate aroma. It really seems standard for a chocolate-forward stout, and not in any way out of the ordinary. The most impressive feature of this beer is that you can’t taste any of the alcohol. Then again, a little touch of alcohol would probably make this taste a little better.
Bottle poured into a Belgian snifter. Pours black with a finger tan head. Aroma of chocolate, caramel, coffee, roast. On the taste, notes of fudge, dark chocolate, roast, and coffee. Excellent value for the price!
Shared up at Proof. This is more of a placeholder rating. I liked this one quite a bit and will have to find another some day. Sparse note: big, roasty, little astringent, good balance, coffee, covers abv well, 8.0
Bomber poured black with thick tan head. Sticky lacing and mild carbonation. Nose is feint of roast malts and coffee. Taste is woodsy, dark chocolate and coffee bitter. Smooth slightly fizzy mouthfeel
$7 for bomber @ Rocket Market in Spokane, WA
Poured to NB tulip.
A: Black ale - nothing moves here: timeless. Thick tarry beer brings a single finger mocha head to fruition. This does dissipate quickly and leaves a simple sheet which is presumably is supported by the bubbles.
S: Smells like almond roca! Beautifully kindles to reveal anise, licorice, molasses, toffee, cocoa. I keep grabbing my glass to take another whiff of this one. Without question, the highlight of this beer. Just a hint of alcohol at the very tail end.
F: Dark chocolate (the 80%+ type), rich, roasted to burnt coffee give a slightly sharp mid-palate. Leaves a bitter tone at finish that retires to reveal a nicely balanced RIS with a highlight of dried, roasted coffee grounds and crystalized sugar.
M: Thick with medium to strong carbonation. Numbs and slick the tongue. Would prefer a little less carbonation. When swished in mouth, foams, but the loose bubbling sits too long and foams out the appreciation of the ale.
D: Very drinkable. This is fresh, I think (no bottle date). At $7/bomber, I might need to pick up a case to the cellar. If you can, grab this one, and consider yourself not blessed, but lucky.
Serving type: bottle
01-10-2011
Bottle share at Proof. Holy fucking head! For an imp stout this thing had some head retention! Opaque black with a ton of tan-brown head (two fingers in a high-ball glass). Artoma of coffee and super dark roasted malt. Taste is licorice, coffee, dark chocolate and slightly funky. High carbonation, especially for a imp stout; with a thick creamy mouthfeel.
Bottle from the lost dog in VA. This is a nice big impy with a light bourbon flavor.