Well done Wookie. This thread has been really informative and has significantly contributed to my continuing appreciation of beer in all of its forms. Plus, it feels good to know you're helping others appreciate it as well. With that said, here's a beer I had a few days ago, but never reviewed. This is an imperial stout from Middle Ages up in Syracuse: Dragonslayer (22 oz. bottle for $5.25)
Sorry I don't have my own pictures, but I was sharing this with a friend and I thought he might look at me funny (so I'm a little self-conscious...). Anyway, this bad boy clocks in at 9.5% ABV. It poured your standard stout black, with almost no head. There was just a little tan spot in the middle of my glass. On first smell I caught some chocolate, coffee, and nuttiness. Upon tasting it, I knew this was way different than Brooklyn BCS. This particular brew is more on the coffee end of the stout spectrum (where the other end would be chocolate).
I'm not a coffee drinker, so this likely influences my review. You could definitely sense the roastiness of the malts, in fact it was unmistakeable. The mouthfeel was quite a bit lighter than the BCS; I tend to like the oily, slick texture better. But to its credit, Dragonslayer does a better job of hiding the alcohol. The finish was an interesting combination of coffee and hop bitterness.
Overall I wasn't too big a fan of how roasty Dragonslayer was, in addition to its thinness. However, if coffee is your sort of deal, then maybe you'd want to give this a go. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt in that regard and nudge it a quarter heart up to 2.75 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]s