Karl Strauss Russian Imperial Stout

Yet another attempt by Karl Strauss to try to garner some sort of Beer Geek street-cred..., with typical indifferent results.

Saw this one being offered up at the very wet&rainy 2007 Pizza Port Strong Ale Festival. Passed on it then, for no other reason than there were so many better/more promising beers being offered. But when I saw that the local Italian restaurant was pouring this off the tap, I figured I'd give it a go.

Very dull to look at -- little in the way of foam or head retention. Served entirely too cold -- but even when it was allowed to warm up, there was really nothing for the nose to marvel over.

Flavor-wise, this struck me as more of a Baltic Porter, or maybe Foreign Export Stout. That is to say, with the 7%ABV not showing up in the flavor profile -- and absolutely nil in the way of Port Wine viscousness -- there was little here that really said "Russian Imperial Stout". No fig notes, no fruitiness whatsoever really.

No amount of warming released any hidden notes of character in this one. From start to finish, it was just a dull, semi-bloating, exceptionally marginal 7%ABV Stout.

Quite a dull beer to get back in the saddle with after recovering from my wisdom teeth removal. Next!
//TB