Ken Schmidt / Iron Fist / Stone Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout - Stone Brewing Co.

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541 Ratings

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rAvg: 4.08
pDev: 12.25%
Reviews: 185
Hads: 356

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Brewed by:
Stone Brewing Co.

California, United States

Style | ABV
American Double / Imperial Stout | 9.60% ABV

Availability: Limited (brewed once). bottle (177), on-tap (8).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

View: Beers (85) | Reviews (242) | Events (1)

Reviews

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Reviews by zachary80:

zachary80

Indiana

4.2/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12oz into a Globe. No visible date; I believe it is only a few weeks since purchase.

Pours black with nice brown head, very good retention for an imperial stout. Good lacing.

Smells exactly as expected for a chocolate mint stout - chocolate roastiness quickly followed by a moderate mint and some sweetness. Reminiscent of how an Andes mint tastes.

This one is much more bitter and dry than expected. Bittersweet chocolate is strong up front, with the bitterness driven by high roast. Mint comes through at the end and lingers for awhile alongside the roast.

Very dry, hard to tell how that is related to the high bitterness - it does seem viscous, but dry. So not necessarily needing to be heavier, but smoother in some way. Carbonation seems perfect and alcohol is nowhere to be found, which is nice for the higher abv.

Overall this is a very manageable mint stout that could be greatly enhanced by some added sweetness and/or reduced bitterness.

Addendum: Let this sit out for a while, and the balance didn't seem to change too much, other than the body gaining some weight and maybe some sweetness...just a little less bitterness/roast and this would be all I would expect from a mint imperial stout. Taste/MF bumped up .5 but not enough to make it a 4.5 overall.

Serving type: bottle

12-31-2012 00:14:03 | More by zachary80

More User Reviews:

verge

California

4.5/5 rDev +10.3%

05-21-2013 18:02:07 | More by verge

SpdKilz

Illinois

3.75/5 rDev -8.1%

05-21-2013 02:21:21 | More by SpdKilz

kemoarps

Washington

4.36/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Deep black, mid-brown billowy head that hangs out and laces the glass like a pair of sneakers.

In a blind smell test, I would be hard pressed to pick which was which between this beer and a pack of thin mints (disclosure: I absolutely LOVE thin mints. Like, more than is healthy. If I had to choose between giving up thin mints for the rest of my life or giving up beer for the rest of my life... well, ok I'd probably give up the cookies, but I'd have to at least think about it). sweet dark chocolate, peppermint, some roastiness...

The taste has much of the same. The mint is less pronounced, but leaves a nice clean finish on the back end. The chocolate becomes more bitter cocoa powder/baking chocolate, a little burnt malts. mildly bitter.

very smoothe. The alcohol is a little more apparent than I would prefer, but by no means is it 'boozy.'

I really like what this beer is. This is not going to be for everyone, and it's not one I would necessarily drink alll the time, but it is a very well crafted beer featuring a set of flavours that are very near and dear to me.
If it sounds even the slightest bit appetizing to you I'd look for it.

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2013 06:31:42 | More by kemoarps