t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout
Bottle fermented. Brewed with water, barley malt, hops and yeast.
3.3
356 reviews
Mater, Belgium
Community reviews
Bottled, 2007 vintage sampled in 2014 (i.e. 7 years old). Opaque black, beige head. Very ’aged’ nose, port, molasses, raisins, roasted malts. Flavor mainly consists of roasted malts, bitterness, licorice, some coffee. Little bit thin in mouthfeel, but that may be because of the age. Not spectacular, but certainly not bad.
I popped the cap and there’s a slow oozing of the beer.
For an imperial Stout, it has more of a colour of a barley wine. A murky rust. The foam does a good job of shrinking from the initial pour leaving lots of lacing in its wake.
It smells like an aged barley wine. Caramel malt with a very noticeable Port like aroma. Marvelous.
The taste holds no surprises. Rich malty goodness with the Port flavourful I mentioned in the smell. I notice some oxidation which probably explains the Port.
Very nice and smooth mouth feel.
I guess I am digging this more than most, judging from the reviews. Oh well.
This was one of the former Regenboog beers and the first Belgian impy after Alvinne’s Podge. Very thick and rocky, sticky, light beige head, very dark and cloudy chocolate brown colour, not entirely black as one would expect from the style. Powerful and rich aroma of chocolate, pear, coffee grounds, yoghurt, raisins, lavender, port wine, parsley, candi syrup. Soft sweetish palate, candied fruits, mellow and fluffy mouthfeel, deep chocolatey maltiness, mouth-filling coffee-like bitterness in the end with a sourish touch for balance, long. Atypical, more a roasted Belgian ale than a real imperial stout, but a great beer nevertheless.
This isn’t an imperial stout - it’s just not. ABV is high enough, but it lacks classic stout flavors. Instead of roasted malt, this beer is mainly dominated by caramel malt and butterscotch. Rich and heavy. Tall white head, dark brown color. Musty Belgian yeast. Not recommended.
@ Havregatan 141016. Bottle (330 ml) from Kihoskh, Copenhagen (31 DKK). Sweet malty with spicy and caramely notes, chocolate and dry dark fruits, some light alcoholic notes, medium body with an oily texture. The finish is dry with spicy notes. Nice!
The aroma is sour and has a lot coffee. Has a noticeable notes of red wine. It’s seal color, hazy, non-transparent with small white head. In taste it’s also a bit sour. It’s very like a black coffee, it’s immediate association. The alcohol is totally covered behind the coffee soureness. It has a little bit too small body for me. It’s highly carbonated. I can say that it’s imperial stout in Belgian way.
Strange one for an imperial stout. More like and imperial brown. Pours brown with ok head and lacing. Medium bitter. Some roast, with some coffee. Lackluster. Bottle.
Bottle.
Appearance: Clear ruby body with a tall and dense khaki head. Way too light for a stout.
Aroma: The aroma is big on burnt brown sugar, heavy fig and hints of booze. Definitely an aroma of a barley wine, not an imperial stout. Smells nice for a barley wine.
Taste: Taste is similar to the aroma. Sweet fruity intro with some burnt brown sugar and a slightly metallic/astringent finish, maybe it’s some spices. Not sure.
Palate: Full-bodied, mild to moderately carbonated.
Overall: I’m reviewing this as a barleywine and for that it’s solid. If I were grading this as a stout it’d be garbage. I don’t know what’s going on here but it’s a solid barleywine.
Botella en ’t Brugs Beertje. Marron oscuro, no parece Stout. Gran aroma pasteleria.
Found @ bargin bin in AZ brew shop @ $1.99 poured into a pint glass shared with a major craft brewer who knows his schtuff- a golden amber with amble cream head.
Barnyard sweet with ample hops.
Carbonated well with hops/malt balance. Belgium sweetness with serious funk. LIKE ALOT
Bottled 06/02/14. A dark brown coloured beer with a whitish head. This is quite old but still within its nominal BBE. There is an aged quality to it and I swear there’s some bourbon notes. Boozy strong. No stout notes. Nothing roasty. Oaky, woody and alcoholic. Taste improves but it’s a bit of a strugglr.
New Beer Distributors, NYC 11.2oz ($6): Pours brownish with a big beige head. Aroma is burnt fruit, chocolate, yeast. Interesting. Taste is still more burnt. Nice Belgian mix with burnt malts. Not really an Imperial Stout. Invites quaffing, but should be reserved for sipping. Drinking this makes me want to smoke cigarettes. I shouldn’t. Interesting.
Rated on 10-08-2009 (Bottle) When poured, this beer forms a large frothy, very fizzy beige head that mostly diminishes, hazy deep orange-brown body, lively, fast rising carbonation, and spotty lacing with a lot of floaties. The Aroma is malty, chocolate and dark fruits. The Taste is sweet, malty, chocolate, dark fruits, alcohol, and has a dry finish. The Palate is smooth and this beer is light-medium bodied. Overall, this a light version of this beer style compared to the American version of this style. I do not get any WOW factor at all with this beer and it does not leave me wanting to revisit this beer again.
33cl bottle. A disgusting overly sweet molasses mess. Chock full of caramel, candy sugar, brown sugar and molasses, almost to the point of being undrinkable, to me.
From notes: Poured hazy red-brown with a 2-finger bone-colored head. Lots of bubbling along the glass. Aroma is malty sweet with a light mustiness from the yeast. Body is medium-to-full, with a mild syrupy thickness and a somewhat oily finish that holds a mild booziness. Flavor has a woody note up front, followed by some cola sweetness and a lingering earthiness at the back. Good, but I would agree with the other ratings in that it resembles a Belgian ale rather than a stout. More like a tripel.
This is a stout? Very fruity and nice beer but not a astout. Maybe it wasn’t matured long enough
Dark brown, off-white head. Dark chocolate, carbonation, bit adhesive but also chocolate in the taste. Body is soft, complex, subtile. Alcohol only appearing in the finish, bitter dry ending. Nice beer, only not completely understanding the nose, okey body.
Bottle. Pours a clear red with a huge foamy ivory head. This does NOT look like a stout. Aroma of hops, yeast and fruits. A bit strange taste - very hoppy and floral. Seems sweet at first but has a bitter/sour floral yeasty aftertaste. Carbonation is medium and mouthfeel is full. Terrible as an Imperial Stout (how on Earth did they come up with that description?) but as a Belgian ale it’s not too bad.
Good Belgian take on the imperial stout style. With the usual dark coffee and chocolate, but with a sweet Belgian twist of yeast and raisin.
As an imperial stout I would say this beer sucks but I actually really enjoyed it as a sour brown ale. It pours a dark reddish brown. The aroma is sweet and fruity. The flavor is a little sweet very tart and quite acidic.
This was a strange entry into the Imperial Stout category (although the label doesn’t lie). It comes out a dark reddish-brown with a huge beige head. The aroma was sweet malt, roasted malt, and sugar cane. The flavour was also sweet, but also had hints of roasted malt.
11.2oz bottle, which I’m pretty sure I got from Party Source. This fucking asshole of a beer foamed all over my desk when I opened it. Fuck you, beer. Clear dark brown / red color, looks more like a dubbel than a stout. An entirely unreasonable and unneccessary amount of bubbly airy white head. Had to pour in small installments, every small pour would generate a whole glass full of head again. At least the head doesn’t have great retention, I don’t have to wait too long for it too fade away. Bigger body. Stronger, soft carbonation. More dry finish. Not at all chewy or thick light American imperial stouts are. Dark fruit, some chocolate syrup, spice. If it weren’t for the presence of the roasted malts, I’d never guess that this was an imperial stout. More sweet taste than bitter. Kind of a tart taste. Light cloying sweet alcohol bite in the finish. Very disappointing.
Intenso color rosso/bruno con schiuma beige mediamente persistente. Al naso offre frutta fresca, caramello, malto e un tocco speziato tipico dei lieviti belgi; gusto rotondo e dolciastro, note erbacee, fruttate, maltose e lievemente tostate. Corpo medio, effervescenza vivace e struttura oleoso-setosa; ricorda più una strong ale che una stout e l’impronta belga si sente tutta! Non eccezionale, ma senza ombra di dubbio particolare!
11.2oz bottle - pours amber/brown with beige head and thin lacing. Nose is grassy hops and caramel - not what I expect from an imperial stout. Flavor adds roasted malts, burnt coffee, dark fruit, alcohol and herbal hops. Oddly enough the bitterness does not come from the coffee flavors but from hops. The sweetness is more like that of a tripel. Some definite yeast issues in the finish. This mess reminds me of a local brewery. metallic aftertaste.
Bottle poured a clear reddish amber with a lasting amber head. Aromas of carmel, pear, pineapple, yeast and spice. Palate was light bodied and crisp with a smooth finish. Flavors of carmel, pear, yeast, light spice and a hint of earthiness with a smooth lingering fruity finish.
33 cl bottle @ hotel room, Brussels. Rated on 18.07.2010
Aroma has vegetables typical to danish ales, some earthy and roasted notes. And a sourish feeling. Flavour is sourish with vegetables, roasted notes, soy sauce and distant earthy notes. Probably the worst Imperial Stout I’ve had.
Bottle. Pours dark brown with a large beige head. Aroma of malt, caramel, fruit, spice and yeast. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet and moderate bitter. Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Blek blek. Cloudy amber with a white head. The nose is sweet and malty with toffee, dark fruits and light roast.Medium body, moderate carbonation The palate is sweet with notes of herbs, raisins, plums, pears and toffee. B@H
Deep, rich saddle-brown. Nearly opaque with dark sediment. Wonderful head. My pour sucked and it still looked fantastic. Aroma is complex - Spices and sour fruits, some alcohol. Some nice roasted character comes through, too. Different from what I think an RIS should typically be, but not bad by any means.Typical stout flavor up front with roasted coffee notes and something that reminds me of a pumpernickel bread crust. Fermented plums or raisins also come through. It has a dryness to it and finishes slightly astringent, with a salty edge.
Mouthfeel/palate was somewhat dry. Has some body to it. I don’t feel the carbonation helps this stout, at all. It’s not overly strong, but for some reason just doesn’t "mesh" with the rest of this beer’s character.
Overall, expensive ($5.99 for 11.2oz), taste does not live up to the aroma, unfortunately. Alcohol is ever-present and the flavors just don’t jive. I really wanted this to be something unique. I guess it was - just not a ’good’ type of unique. And they seem to have ditched the humorous (if slightly off-color) horse for a really poor reproduction of Fedor Rokotov’s portrait of Catherine.
Bottle at home.
Clear dark reddish color with a very large beige head, nice lacings, yeast sediment. Aroma heavy malty (brown sugar, roasted, fruity, spicy, notes of wood), light yeasty, medium hoppy. Flavor quite sweet and spicy, medium bitter, long lasting, quite dry? Almost full body, lot’s of alcohol, warming.