Laitilan Imperiaali

Imperial stout from the Finnish indie brewery which is not one of my favorites, but still ok addition to the Finnish beer scene. This is however maybe their most interesting beer: Imperial stout with 9,2%. Unfortunately this is in my opinion not one of the best in this style of great ones like Plevna’s Siperia, Stone’s Russian Imperial Stout and BrewDog’s Tokyo*. Still, this is a nice brew. There is some sweetness, and of course roasted barley. There was at first a bit empty aftertaste with a hint of alcohol and some metallic/sharp sense, but after having additional sips of this black heaven, aftertaste just gets better and better. So, this is not a masterpiece, for me at least, but still a very good beer.

I actually like this kind of imperial stout a lot more than those burned down coffeelike imperial stouts like the last Nogne O:s Imperial Stout batch that was sold in Finland. More flavors, not just burnburnburn. Actually this is kind of “easy drinking” version of imperial stout, which I don’t think is a very bad thing, after all. What really counts is the overall feel of beers’ enjoyability and fitting to different occasions. This reminds me a bit of Sinebrychoff’s Porter and its collaborational cousin Two Tree Porter, which I had the pleasure to find in local bar while enjoying a fine night with fellow gentlemen (our little club here in backwoods, Finland). Those porters are also very enjoyable and at the same time somehow easy drinkable, at least for a beer enthusiast like myself (22 years of beer drinking experience, not so diverse though, until in recent years).

This beer leaves me with a very nice feeling and aftertaste. There were these some, even a bit disturbing qualities in it, that make this more ordinary imperial stout, but for a beer this is still very good.

*** OK