Pegleg Imperial Stout
I was recently given a bottle of the Clipper City Brewery’s Pegleg Imperial Stout by my friend James with the caveat that I review it for the site. Not one to pass up a free beer or a chance to stand on my Connoisseur soapbox, I gladly accepted.
Upon opening the bottle I’m immediately hit with a cocoa aroma. The beer pours a dark almost black shade of brown with a thick head that fades from an inch or more down to fraction of an inch in less than a minute. The scent upon pouring it much more metallic, but still hinting at cocoa and a good solid stout. The taste is surprisingly sweet and very briefly hoppy on the attack but quickly diminishes to a smooth coffee, chocolate and later berry flavor that lingers for a good long time. There is a rich darkly toasted malt present in the body of the beer, generally standard and always appreciated in an imperial stout. Weighing in at 8% apv, this beer is no lightweight, however it is incredibly smooth. As the beer comes to temperature the berry and coffee flavors become much more pronounced, unfortunately so does the sweetness, it is here where the Clipper Brewery has slipped up, while Imperial Stouts do favor the dark and sweet end of the spectrum (dark chocolate, black cherries, molasses, etc.) the sweetness should be more subtle and less saccharine. Granted, with the alcohol content in this brew you won’t have to worry about this ham-fisted sweetness for long, however, for a casual drink it’s more than a little overpowering.