Left Hand Wake Up Dead Imperial Stout - Barrel-Aged
f.k.a. Left Hand Oak Aged Imperial Stout
GOOD MORNING. YOU’VE WOKEN UP DEAD. YOU’RE IN RUINS. On the brink of catastrophe. But don’t be discouraged. You are ripe for a revolution! Just like the Bolsheviks of the early 1900’s, our barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout doesn’t happen overnight. Patience is required. Wake Up Dead hibernates in our cellars for over 12 months before being blended to woody perfection. Hints of raisins, cherry, licorice and toffee, followed by earthy, herbal hop notes that rise up, joining in your fight for a better life. Don’t be afraid of the dark. All power to the stouts!
GOOD MORNING. YOU’VE WOKEN UP DEAD. YOU’RE IN RUINS. On the brink of catastrophe. But don’t be discouraged. You are ripe for a revolution! Just like the Bolsheviks of the early 1900’s, our barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout doesn’t happen overnight. Patience is required. Wake Up Dead hibernates in our cellars for over 12 months before being blended to woody perfection. Hints of raisins, cherry, licorice and toffee, followed by earthy, herbal hop notes that rise up, joining in your fight for a better life. Don’t be afraid of the dark. All power to the stouts!
3.7
732 reviews
Longmont, United States
Community reviews
Bottle. Pours black with tan head. Aroma is roasty, vanilla, cocoa, sweet. Taste is sweet with a touch of bitterness on the finish, a bit of wood tannin, not over oaked but still present, full bodied, medium carbonation. Overall, tasty.
22 oz bottle, Pours opaque with ruby edges. Soapy tan head, moderate lacing.
Aroma is creamy coffee, oak, vanilla, alcohol.
Flavor is milk chocolate covered cherries, bitter coffee, oaky tanins, light roasted grain. Faint minty, herbal hops. Not sure it will age that well, but I’m going to try anyway.
Draught. Inky black with small foamy beige head, faint caramel aroma for which you reallly have to strain yourself, low carbonation, thick body, caramel-mocha flavored rum-like taste, long finish with strong alcohol aftertaste. Very satisfyingly rich and strong.
"a nice beer for sure, but not an elite impy stout. actually poured lighter than an earlire oatmeal stout, but is pretty big on chocolate/licorice.raisiny aroma. hops and roasted malt also present in the flavor. pretty smooth, alcohol eveident but not overdone."
Jet Black with one finger creamy off white head. Aroma is roasty, with faint bitter chocolate. Notes of caramel and plums and dark cherries. Body is medium, but mouth feel is creamy. Taste is bitter hops, slight coffee, dark fruit, cherry, bitter chocolate, roast notes, caramel. Sticky sweet on the lips. Slight alcohol phenols. Good though.
12 of nitro bottle from the 2014 release. Poured hard into a pub glass.
Aroma is simple. Alcohol with slight bitter chocolate.
Taste is also simple. Semi-sweet chocolate with a faint. I’m talking faint hint of bourbon.
Palate is the best I have ever experienced. I’m sure that comes from the nitro. As other Lefthand nitro brews have this commonality. So velvety smooth. That also comes from a head that continually rebuilds itself with each sip. This adds an extra creaminess to the brew.
Overall I am extremely disappointed. I have heard amazing things about this beer. I would never guess it’s been aged for an entire year. Nor would I say that this is a Russian imperial. I consider it to be classified as a sweet/milk imperial.
Batch from 12/12 from a bomber. This beer disappointed me greatly. The only thing I can taste is the alcohol. Kind of a whiskey/rum flavor. Looks fairly normal, but smell and taste is dominated by the booze. Very hard to pull out any other characteristics. Many other stouts I'd choose over this one.
flaska från 2009. Svartbrun med sedvanliga stoutdofter, rostat. Hög beska. härlig kropp men aningen stickig alkohol. På det stora hela en balanserad och bra imp-stout.
1/29/14. Bomber. Pours dark brown with a thin mocha head. Mild peppery nose. Aggressive flavors of chili, pepper, dark coffee. Mouth is thick with lots of rich flavors.
(Backlog) Brown to black in color, tannish colored head. the smell is coffee, roasty, chocolate, malts. The taste is the same as the smell. Nothing special typical stout like but a touch more boring.
Bottle @ home .. It pours pitch black with a small creamy tan head… roasted malt, caramel, licorice, toffee, brown sugar, dark fruits, some liquor notes, wood
Pours thick and dark with a lighter brown head. You can definitely taste the raisiny, licorice taste. Powerful but fours down gently.
Poured from 22oz bottle from blackwells. Black with brownish foamy head. Crazy rich taste. Aroma is chocolate, nuts and raisins. Taste is cherry, cocoa, toffee and coffee. A pretty sweet taste. Good. Big
Bottle. Pours pitch black with very tin head. That dissapears almost instantly. Nose is chocolate and roasted fruits. Taste is wood, chocolate, cherries and very strong alcohol taste.
Good beer, but a little inbalanced.
for a beer that aged apparently for 12 months, this one was all one dimensional and alcohol burn. poured out.
2007 oak aged imperial stout vintage- pours dark ebony, very thin mocha head. nose- anise and vanilla. Taste- creamy mouthfeel, nice nutiness, slightly oxidized but still flavourful and not dulled out. Very smooth, no hint of booze. Roasty dark chocolate finish.
Bottle. Pours a dark brown with a medium creamy beige head leaving spotty lacing. The aroma is strong oak, roast, dark chocolate. Medium mouthfeel with sweet roasted malt, chocolate and light bitter finish. Very good.
Bottle from App Vintner? - pours pitch with a tan head. Dark fruits and bread. It’s solid, but I found it boring when I had it last night. Maybe I’m bored with the style?
2/23/2011: Left Hand Wake Up Dead Barrel Aged Imperial
Stout... Aroma: Milk chocolate and wet dark and caramel malts; a
little bourbon character. Appearance: Brown with orange-colored
highlights; whispy beige crown. Flavor: Weak chocolate, weak
caramel, weak dried fruit sweetness; grainy maltiness with a fair
amount of alcohol popping out in the thin finish; seems to deepen a
bit as it warms with some tobacco coming through... Palate:
Medium-bodied; smooth like watery syrup. Overall: Barrel aged
imperial stout? Hardly! In the end, this is a good barrel aged BROWN
ALE (not even barrel anything is detectable when the beer warms),
maybe...
1 pint 6 fl. oz. bottle (Bottled on 10 26 10) shared by Tmoney99.
Thanks Tom! Rating #712 for this beer. Score: 7/3/6/3/12=3.1
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200_ (much older than 2009) Vintage
3/12/2011: Left Hand Imperial Stout - Oak Aged Anniversary Brew Bottle Conditioned... Aroma: Cocoa, molasses, CARAMEL, prune, licorice, chocolate, and some roasty/smoky/char-like character. Appearance: Silky pour; near black in color with some ruby showing around the edges; minimal tan-colored crown that doesn’t stand very long. Flavor: Really nice sweetness from the mounds of deeply caramelized malt sugars; plenty of chewy molasses and chocolate/cocoa; I really like the subtle smoke and char flavors as well as a bit of oaky dryness; middle has some licorice, raisin, coffee, and roasted grains; finish is very creamy with vanilla mocha and some boozy notes (although the alcohol is nearly completely hidden otherwise). Palate: Thick and heavy; full-bodied and smooth; yet somehow extremely SMOOTH! Overall: Still quite deicious and very complex!
1 Pint, 9.36 Fl. Oz. bottle. Score: 8/3/8/4/17-4.0
Pours dark brown/black with a tan head. Aroma is coffee, chocolate, cherries, dark malt. Flavor is cherries, coffee, toffee, vanilla, wood. Very nice beer.
Thick dark black pour with a big tan head. Large bodied, thick coco vanilla and oak flavors soft a bit sweet
Bottle. Pours black with small tan head and nice lacing. Woody, burnt caramel, coffee, chocolate in taste. Kinda thick sweet syrupy. Average to lively carbonation and a sticky lingering finish. Pretty good.
Strong coffee aroma. Medium body, with slight bitterness. Coffee, chocolate, cherry flavors. A little thinner than I expected, but not bad.
Le liquide est brun-noir,la mousse est beige et épaisse avec un anneau de mousse standard.Au nez,les prunes mûres,bourbon sucré et le rôtis.Au goût,une douceur à lentrée qui persiste suivi par les bulles pétillantes qui disparaissent rapidement.Une rondeur bien balancée.En finale,la vanille et le bourbon qui s’impose et dominent.Tout qu’une déguste.Merci Pat!
Une tulipe profondément brune et son col de mousse beige qui tient la pose pour quelques secondes. Un nez fabriqué pour plaire aux amateurs de sensations douces. Outre les notes rôties, on y retrouve des notes chocolatées et un toffee presque riche. Derrière cette façon maltée, on peut aussi y découvrir des notes boisées qui sont attribuables à un bourbon qui est bien loin de l’agression. Du feuillage et certaines inspirations terreuses semblent aussi vouloir se manifester. Le goût n’est pas très différent. La somme des malts chocolatés et caramélisés apporte une belle douceur. Le côté rôti et le fût de chêne qui laisse échapper quelques saveurs tanniques réussissent à contrebalancer cette sucrosité. Aussi, il y a quelque chose de fruité et une certaine acidité rampante qui roulent sur ma langue. En bouche, le liquide fait bonne impression. Son corps est de moyenne densité. Ses bulles sont suffisantes et sa texture crémeuse. En finale, on retient des notes amèrement chocolatées qui se choquent à des notes de bourbon légèrement astringentes. Tout compte fait, un liquide impérial qui, à défaut de me renverser, a réussi à me faire passer un très bon moment.
Sampled at the Alaskan Barleywine Festival. A great woody aged beer. Notes of vanilla, woody, caramel, chocolate. A very tasty beer.
bottled. pours black with a medium tan head. aromas of grapefruit, raisin, and leaves. overall sweetness, with cherry/raisin flavors on the tongue. full bodied, thick with a lively feel. finish is long with alcohol and over ripe cherry finish. overall a decent beer.
Pours a dark brown with a long lasting tan head. Sour in the tongue tip and a hollow middle. Oak flavored.
Poured from a 22 ounce bottle. Pours a viscous black with a thin head of dark khaki colored foam. Aroma is raisin, toffee, wood, and something on the verge of tartness. Taste has more of the dark fruits, raisin sweetness going on. Really like the raisin taste in this beer.
Draught. Pours a pitch black body, with a dark brown head that diminishes slowly, leaving a very good lace. Aroma dominated by vanilla, coffee and chocolate. Medium to heavy sweet taste, with notes of vanilla, coffee, chocholate and rum, exceptional. Smooth texture, low carbonation, heavy body. This was a beer to remember...Very close to a perfect ten.