Dark Horse Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

Brewed By: Dark Horse Brewing Company in Marshall, Michigan  

Purchased: 12oz bottle bough at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2014 

Style/ABV: Russian Imperial Stout, 11.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight's beer is a straight up RIS. There are no bells and no whistles to see here. This one isn't aged in a barrel, and it's not brewed with coffee or chocolate. Hooray. About Dark Horse: 

Dark Horse Brewing Company is a brewery based out of Marshall, Michigan. The brewery was founded in 1998 by Aaron Morse, but began as a restaurant owned by Bill Morse. Aaron suggested turning the restaurant into a brewpub, and the rest was history. For more info, check out their website HERE. 

The Plead the 5th Imperial Stout is an annual, February release. This one is brewed with lots of roasted malts and hops...you know the drill. This beer also comes in several barrel-aged varieties...hopefully I can get my hands on some of those someday. 

Dark Horse Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

This one pours out dark and inky, even by Imperial Stout standards. The head is bready and dense, with a dark brown mocha/truffle color. Bright light confirms the depths of this beer's darkness, and swirling the beer results in glossy brown streaks painting the side of the glass. It's an ominous look.

The aroma here is huge, like getting smacked in the face with grilled/charred ribs. There's a big smokey, charred note....with lots of chocolate, coffee, roast, and ash/dirt. Actually, the aroma really suggests coffee, with earthy coffee dominating the nose. There's a deep woody note in here as well, with some hints of spirits (bourbon) and molasses. 

Like a slice of well-crafted chocolate cake and a cup of espresso, this is rich and dark with layers of flavors and impressive boozy warming on the back end. I'm picking up tons of coffee, chocolate, roast, bourbon, woody vanilla, toast, and dark grain. The body is big, with almost powder/chocolaty density, and with waves of truffle and dark chocolates and coffee. The coffee hits dirt, ash, and sharp espresso, with hints of espresso and vanilla. It's a huge Stout. 

This is a full-bodied, big beer. At 11.0% you do get some booze, but it is welcomed. This is well-carbonated, and really has a nice mouthfeel. It's pretty much perfectly executed. This one isn't too sweet, and cleans up nicely, with a dry and bitter finish. Palate depth and duration are both outstanding, and so is the complexity. This is smooth as hell...up front you get big chocolate, roasted malts, cake, truffles, and bitter dark chocolate; the mids dial up huge coffee, espresso, woody vanilla, some hop kick; the back end mixes chocolate and coffee, with dark grains, toast, espresso, and fade to dry and chocolate. Just...fantastic. I want more of this.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is super solid, so I'll throw this a Light Divine Brew. Basically, check this out if you can. This works on so many levels, and there's a ton of flavor going on here. I plan to seek this out, and this would be a great Winter Warmer or whatever. Food pairings here include dry chocolate cakes, grilled foods, ribs, steak, or even a burger with bacon. This is just fantastic shit, and it's cheap and available and from the Midwest. 

Random Thought: I'll maybe pen more thoughts on the Left Hand/Spiegelau Stout glass later, but I really like it. I look forward to getting some Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro in it.