Head to Head: Victory Storm King Imperial Stout vs. Initial Brewery IS 8.3
Welcome to another Head to Head challenge. Today we two Imperial Stouts. Both are from America. The first beer is Victory Storm King Imperial Stout from Pennsylvania. The second beer is The Initial brewery IS 8.3 from North Carolina. Never heard of the Initial Brewery? Well I am not to surprised. It is actually a homebrew that two friends and I brewed a couple of months ago. Needless to say we liked it a lot. But how would it compare to a really good Imperial stout? Well after beating the Avery Czar (the bottle was off) lets see how it does here.
As usual the tasting was done blind and to style.
Price: Winner – IS no real surprise as homebrews are so cheap compared to store bought.
King – $12.99 (6 pack 12 oz bottles)
IS – $1.00 (16.9 oz bottle)
Appearance: Winner – Tie
King – Pours a rich black with a large tan head that leaves some pretty lace.
IS – Pours black with quiet large tan head that diminishes slowly leaving a nice rich lace.
Aroma: Winner – IS
King – This has a nice balanced aroma. Definitely the more subdued of the two. But there is some nice roasted malt along with some hops.
IS – A bit more full on than the other. This definitely has a more roasted/burnt aroma along with a hint of dark chocolate. The hops are much more evident as well.
Taste: Winner – IS
King – Not an incredibly strong taste I would expect in an Imperial stout but all the flavors are there. The sweetness to start followed by a moderate bitterness. It would be easy to knock these back at a fair rate.
IS – Now this is a bit more like it. The beer has lots of sweetness to start. But then the bitterness starts to build and becomes quite strong but does not overpower the sweetness of the malt.
Body/Finish: Winner – King
King – This has a pretty full body a nice oily texture and a moderate bitter aftertaste that does not hag around to long.
IS – Well definitely not as strong in the body and while the aftertaste has some bitterness it could last longer.
Overall: Winner – IS
Well what can I say? First let me say how surprised I was to find out I choose my beer over the Storm King. I was blown away. I really thought it had gone the other way with the IS 8.3 being soundly beaten by the Strom King. So am I proud of the IS? You better believe it. But all is not perfect. I still think that both these beers lack the complex body of a truly great Imperial Stout. While highly drinkable to be sure they are not quite as challenging as I would expect the best Imperial Stouts to be.
One last note I also stuck the IS 8.3 into my monthly beer tasting I host. It was one of 6 beers and no one else knew that it was a homebrew. It was in the top 3 of all 8 of us there. What was it up against? The beers were Rochefort 10, Ayinger Celebrator, Nøgne Ø Porter, Bells Two Hearted Ale, and Lindemans Framboise. These were hardly a bunch of run of the mill beers.
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