Cigar City Humidor Series Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Original rating 2008. Huge thanks to CCB for letting us lush our way through multiple glasses of this wonderful brew. It pours deep dark chocolate with dark brown edges and wispy mocha head. Looks impressive and hinting at the yummy goodness to come. The aroma isn’t pungent but more moderate in strength conveying adequate notes of rich roasty malts mixing with an inviting level of rich smelling dark chocolate and a mild background of toastiness. The taste starts with a rich creamy full mouth feel ushering in velvety dark chocolate, some roasted malts to burnt malts and yummy sweet, and yes creamy, caramel candy. I love that ribbon of caramel that persists throughout the flavor experience. Wow, awesome flavor. But wait, there’s more. As the finish approaches a very complimentary toasted multi grain bread stirs up and blends into a mild roasted cedar wood confluence of notes. This is just a fabulous brew and tells me a dark chocolate, caramel candy and roasted wood mix of notes can come together in near perfect flavor harmony. The only tiny knock I can give this brew would be that it could use a slightly fuller aroma. But that is getting picky. The commercial batch lacks the added caramel candy goodness from the pilot batch. For me this takes away from the experience and it is no longer a 4.7 score but rather a tasty 4.2.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Another huge shared beer from KnoxBeerCrew tasting. Labeled as Humidor Series Imperial Stout. Black pour, almost like syrup, heavy, tan cap and ring, syrupy lacing and coloration on the inside of the glass. Near burnt toasted malts with a light cedar undertone, molasses, burnt toast, some caramel. Huge flavor: dark tasoted malts, burnt dread, cedar, molasses, slight plums, coffee, dark and rich. Helluva stout.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

maybe if i'd tried this first in the Humidor line it woulda blew me away, but the heavy cedar aroma and flavor that were so great in that first ipa are starting to get repetitive. Still good, and the stout is a big enough beer to break through a little, but the cedar spice and smokiness could be scaled back a couple notches and this could be an elite beer. As it is, it's still very good, and unique, but several points below the base beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Sampled on 12/4/2009. Bottle courtesy of John C. This Imperial Stout pours a dark black color from a 750ml bottle. Small to medium sized tan foamy head, nice retention. The aroma is chocolate, malt, cedar and wood. A medium to full bodied Imperial Stout. The malts are chocolate and coffee and roasted malts. The cedar flavors are prevalent and add a balance to the beer. Very smooth. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.