Victory Storm King Imperial Stout

Why I tried this: I was at World of Beer UCF and felt like I needed a stout. Kyle recommended this to me, and although I have so far been wary of Victory, I trusted him. This could be a dangerous game to play...

Smell: Roasted malts and coffee. Lots of it. Just barely below the threshold I'd consider overpowering. I was fairly impressed.

Taste: Just as it smelled, strong roasted malts and coffee tones came through sip by sip. The beer was strong at 9%, but not strong enough that you could taste the alcohol. It was enough to let the strong flavors come through. Really good.

It looks like listening to Kyle paid off yet again. This was the first good beer I've had from Victory...lol. It was a fairly strong imperial stout at 9% alcohol, but it hid the alcohol well, and had a wonderful mixture of strong roasted malt and coffee flavors. The smell was nice and as a stout should be. The pour was thick and practically black, leaving a nice light brown head. Overall, I'd definitely get this one again.

--Jeff

Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout

Why I chose this: As stated in the previous post I tried this beer because I showed up to World of Beer for a poker tournament. How did I do? Well I'm no pro and drunk happened, so I didn't do so well. That aside I started talking to a random dude at the bar and suggested a beer for him to try next(Full Sail Session Black Lager), and he recommended the Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout to me. I am a pretty big fan of pretty much every beer especially stouts so I decided to give it a shot. I am a pretty big fan of jumping all in to try something and dont sample at all, maybe that explains a lot about my poker style.

Scent: Very strong roasted malt, chocolatey scent. A very nice smell, smells very sweet.

Taste: Introduction aside this beer was great. If you are a fan of Guinness Stout or Murphys Stout and wouldn't mind something a little, sweeter I guess, you will really like this. I absolutely enjoyed this beer however I dont think I could drink much more than 2-3 of these on a beer outing because of that sweet flavor. The chocolate and coffee flavors are very apparent however not quite as overpowering as other "chocolate branded beers.

On a scale of 10 I would for sure give this a 7, it would be an 8 but if I picked up a pack of this I dont think I could drink and still enjoy this by the 3rd to 4th pint. This is dessert.

--Jon

A few days after this posting went up, Jon recommended this beer to me. I'm a huge fan of stouts, and I couldn't love this beer enough. I agree that 2-3 of these beers is more than enough due to the flavor, but wow. The way the roasted malts mix with the toffee and chocolate flavors and scents, is just incredible. I'd give it an 8.5/10.

--Jeff