Scotch Irish John By Imperial Stout

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Scotch Irish made two legendary Imperial Stouts, and John By was the easier of the two to find. It was a dark brown beer, almost black with a thick creamy brown head. Dark fruits and coffee filled the air with aroma while both tantalized the tongue with flavour. A hint of black licorice made it all complete.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Black as motor oil with a finger of tan head. Too bad it doesn't stick around too long. Sweet chocolate and malt aroma, quite appealing but not powerful. The mouthfeel is silky and thick, coating your mouth and allowing the awesome semi-sweet cocoa-coffee-licorice flavour to shine. Balanced to perfection. Yum yum, I must find this again.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

It comes in a cute little bottle. But it has a great deal of flavour. It pours a deep deep black with no light passing through. The head is tan coloured, and lasts a while. The aroma is dark chocolate malt, caramel, plums, and brown sugar. The flavour is very chocolatey. This beer is actually very light and went down easy. An excellent beer.

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

Stubby bottle reminiscence of my youth when all beer bottles in Canada were stubby...Black charcoal and quite well balance smokiness,bitterness flirting with sweetness,a great deal of a great beer will definitely buy again...

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Was surprised to see this one at the LCBO, in a single stubbie. Glad to see more and more of Scotch Irish brews there. This one pours an almost black colour with very little red highlights. The head is nice and foam-creamy with a light brown colour to it. Retention is decent, but not much lacing come out of this one. A beautiful smell of coffee and roasted malt appears at first, but then, the scent turns into a rusty water one (I guess it is the hop sticking out). The mouthfeel is pretty flat (did not hear the normal sound as I popped the cap), but had a nice thickness to it. Very well hidden alcohol, with the taste of plums, chocolat, roasted malt, some candy... but very well-balanced, not to be too sweet, nor too bitter, but yet, still very tasty and drinkable. This one grew on me, as I drank it.

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

A very solid solid beer. Nice aroma and great deep dark apperance. Nice tannish head. Nice attack, very solid with hints of coffee and a fairly bitter finish but still drinakable. Very nice, able to challenge the best from the Mother Country.

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

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a huge brown color head with good retention and lacing. Aroma of black chocolate is quite intense with some subtle notes of coffee. Taste consists of a well balance mix between some black chocolate, coffee notes and some light sweetness to balance the mix. Body is full with some great carbonation and no alcohol was noticeable. I thought this was a very well balance example of the style and was easily drinkable.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

341ml bottle
6.7% ABV
Milton LCBO Outlet #1 (Milton, Ontario, Canada)
December 24, 2007
The beer poured a coca-cola black with a huge chocolate milk coloured frothy head. The aroma consisted of roasted malts and some chocolate tinges. The mouthfeel was medium-bodied with little carbonation. The flavour was very similar to the 95% Cocoa Lindt chocolate.

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

341ml Canuck "stubbie" bottle. Small package for such a big beer... Pores a deep black which defies light, rich 3 finger sticky mocha colored cap that lasts and laces. Aroma is distinctly mocha aroma with light sweetness and a soft hint of dried fruit and hops. Rich oily mouth feel, thick malt spine and deep dark roasty character. Flavors: roast husks, coffee, pipe tobacco, bitter cocoa, chicory root, charred toast...and a lightly salty bittering finish. Hides the alcohol well and is very drinkable...but its strength is the charred grain from the black patent malt creating an astringent affinity with the hops used...never had a stout that did this so well in such great balance.