I'm sad to say that I have been so busy these last couple of weeks that I really haven't been able to keep up with this blog. I've tried a lot of really good beers and I'm kicking myself because I haven't taken the time to write about them. I'm going to do a much better job keeping up with this thing from here on out. There's too much good beer out there and I've taken it upon myself to make sure that the few people who read this blog hear about it.
I decided to celebrate my comeback with a monster beer. That is, The Czar from Avery Brewing. This beer is a part of their Dictator Series that I wan in love with early in November when I reviewed the The Kaiser. This beer is as big, if not bigger, than the Kaiser. It definitely knocked me for a loop. I was expecting a big, flavorful, powerful beer and that's exactly what I got. This beer also taught me to follow the rule of "the darker the beer, the warmer it should be served." As the beer warmed the best developed more and more, which was really cool to experience.
This beer pours a very dark brown color, and sits opaque in the glass. Initially it had about one finger of head, but this fell back into the beer pretty quickly. There were some signs of carbonation along the side of the glass, and a light film on top of the beer the whole time I was drinking. It left a lot of lace on the sides of the glass throughout the tasting.
The scent of this beer was pretty interesting. I got some subtle hints of chocolate and coffee. It had a very prominent sweet quality to it, and underneath the sweetness there's a tiny bit of alcohol that I could smell. The label mentions toffee and molasses and I got a little bit of those flavors as well as the malty sweetness.
My first few tastes of this beer were very underwhelming and I was a little concerned for a little while. I had put this beer in the fridge and in hindsight I wish I would have chosen to not chill it at all. When i first tasted this beer I could taste the chocolate malt, alcohol, and molasses and that was it. And the flavors I could taste were very subtle. So I let the beer sit for 20 minutes and came back and could taste a lot more. I got hints of coffee, toffee, and the molasses was a lot more prominent. I felt like the malts stood out more as well. I was even able to enjoy the slight bite from the hops as I sipped. This beer should definitely be enjoyed at room temperature, or slightly chilled. The beginning of the taste has a strong sweetness to it mixed with alcohol and some slight fruitiness. There is a little bite in the middle from the hops that evens out the sweetness perfectly and the finish is coffee with a hint of alcohol. The alcohol is impossible to avoid in this beer, as it sits at 10.5% ABV and has a 1.104 original gravity. The alcohol is by no means unpleasant though. It's just unavoidable so if you don't like that flavor in your beer this isn't the brew for you.
This beer had an incredibly heavy body. There wasn't a whole lot of carbonation and when I drank it I found it to be almost chewy. The mouth feel was very interesting. I felt like this beer was thicker than others, it was very hard to freely swish this beer around in my mouth. It definitely lacked the watery characteristics that a lot of other beers usually have. Its the first time I could significantly notice the heaviness of the body. The aftertaste of this beer was really nice, especially considering how heavy it was. The alcohol didn't linger at all. It finished with a nice coffee taste that wasn't overpowering by any means. I actually enjoyed its lingering quality.
Overall I thought this beer was awesome, especially after I had it when it warmed. I felt like the heavy body was kind of weird, but as I finished the bottle I got used to it and it really wasn't a big issue. It just caught me off guard initially. If you're into imperial stouts, I would definitely pick this one up. I plan to grab a bottle and cellar it for a couple years and hopefully by then this blog blows up and by then everyone will read a blog post on the cellared bottle. But I digress, go get yourself a bottle of this bad boy. It's a great winter beer and if you enjoy stouts get yourself an early Christmas present.
I plan to write many more posts for December. It would be blasphemous not to. I plan to do an ultimate review of King Henry from Goose Island on Christmas Day. Thats their bourbon barrel barley wine and its supposed to be insane. It better be for 25 bucks a bottle. I hope every one has a very happy holiday season, and make sure to check back soon for a new post.
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