Beer Review, t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout

Prior to having the Cuvee Alex le Rouge, I had a t'Smis'je Catherine the Great Imperial Stout. This one is by De Rogenboorg in Brugge Belgium. It clocks in at 10% ABV.

This one looks pretty in that picture, but I assure you, the picture doesn't do it justice. This beer isn't an imperial stout. It's hardly a brown in color. It comes in the same kind of bottle as gulden draak. It's not black, it looks brown, as you can see, there's a decent amount of head. It pours very thin, and you can see through it.

It smells vegetably, there's no hops or malt in the nose. It felt thin, but also warm, due to the alcohol. 10% wasn't hidden in this one, like in the Alex the rouge. It tasted bitter. I was looking for some sort of familiar imperial stout flavor, like chocolate, coffee, vanilla, but none of that was there. It's got some tea, and some toasted bread, maybe some raisin... but nothing that makes me think Imperial Stout.

As I drank this I thought, If I made this beer, I couldn't call it a stout, let alone an Imperial Stout, hell, I couldn't call it a porter.

This would have gone better if it was called a winter warmer. It was more of a spiced beer than a stout. This was not the beer for me.