Today's beer is the third in Avery's Dictator Series. The first that I looked at, The Maharaja, is one of my favorite beers of all time. The second, The Kaiser, was a delicious Imperial Oktoberfest lager that I enjoyed quite a bit. Go check those old reviews out if you haven't already. Those are some great beers. But all of that brings us to the final beer in the series, The Czar. An 11.1%, 55 IBU, beast of a Russian Imperial Stout. I know I'm excited. To the beer!
The Czar pours a viscous, motor oil, pitch black. It's topped by a thin layer of dense mocha colored head that leaves beautiful rings of lacing on the way down.
Big roasty aromas jump right out the top of the glass. Plenty of big dark chocolatey notes as well as some nice bitter coffee. There's a little bit of an herbal note going on as well. I also think I'm picking up the faintest hint of vanilla, which adds a lovely little bit of complexity.
The Czar is massively full bodied and quite viscous and chewy on the mouthfeel. The flavors are led by big notes of toffee and bitter, dark, roasty coffee. The coffee bitterness gives way to sweeter notes of chocolate and a lovely subtle dark fruitiness. There's a fairly pronounced hop character here that adds a spicy resiny character and balances out all of the malty sweetness. The fruit and coffee flavors become more pronounced as the beer warms and opens up. The alcohol comes across a bit hot but the beer is still awfully drinkable.
Well, Avery's Dictator Series is three for three. This is a very tasty stout, and quite interesting to boot. The toffee flavors and pronounced hop character make it pretty unique. And as much as I enjoyed this bottle fresh, I have a feeling a year or two of cellaring could turn this beer into something really special. Have a great weekend folks.
HD
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