I was sorting through some papers and discovered my initial tasting notes for my Export/Imperial Stout. I thought I'd put them up together to compare and see how the beer developed.
October 2011 Tasting:
Aroma: Chocolate, caramel, raisin-like aromas
Appearance: Black! Almost entirely opaque with a hint of red around the edges when held up to bright light. A dark tan head, thick and tight. Not great retention but a thin layer remains all the way down.
Taste: Roasty, chocolate, some alcohol flavours present. Mild hop bitterness. There's some astringency, not much sweetness. Unpleasant, vegetal aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: It has a dry feeling, a bit over-carbonated. The combination of carbonation, alcohol and astringency leave a sharp feeling on the tongue/throat.
Overall: A mistake in lots of ways, this beer almost pulls it off but the mouthfeel and aftertaste lets it down.
March 2012 Tasting:
Aroma: Not much of an aroma, a little of the roast and some alcohol. Nothing from the yeast that I can detect, I used US-05 so that's not surprising.
Appearance: Utterly black with a two finger, dense, tan head.
Taste: Big, roasty, chocolate, coffee. It has a dark fruity thing going on too. It's got an obvious sweetness to it, probably too much, or rather, there's not enough bitterness to balance it properly. You wouldn't sit and drink a few of these, but that's not really what you're aiming for with something this big anyway. The astringent notes I had a problem with earlier seem to be gone and the aftertaste is good. The flavour is so big that the alcohol isn't really detectable in the flavour until it warms up to room temperature.
Mouthfeel: Syrupy and dense. The carbonation is a bit higher than I'd like but it's not too far off. Some warmth from the alcohol.
Overall: This mistake turned out pretty well. I guess it's more of a Russian Imperial Stout than an Export Stout. If I was doing it again and intentionally aiming at a RIS I'd turn the bitterness up a notch or two and the carbonation down slightly. I'd probably also use a different yeast to get some fruity esters doing their thing. It'll be nice to have this on hand over the coming winter and I'm keen to follow Luke's lead and use it in cooking.
I'm glad that I found those notes. It's helpful to see how much the beer changed over time and a lesson to be more patient. I was surprised to read that I'd described the beer as being 'dry'. It's certainly far from dry now. I'm guessing that the astringency and mild hop bitterness contributed to that perception and as they've faded the sweetness is on the rise.
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