beer_name: Marshal Zhukov's Imperial Stout
text: Thanks to moose3285 for throwing this into a friggin' incredible box of Cigar City brews that arrived not long ago. Mike, you are on my list of people to speak up for when judgment day rolls around. Pours black. Thick black, like the lakes around here, which are so ready to freeze at the first solid cold snap. The head is sunburnt tan, really wild reddish tint to it. Purty. The smell is divine, heavy on the chocolate & malts, hold the hops. Bonus points for the both the cool bottle as well as the historical figure...gives my old History Minor a little goose. Marshal Zhukov would have been thrilled to learn he's been reincarnated as this brew. Wow. This bastard has depth like the Mariana Trench. Roasted, firethrower-tarred malts are all over the place, but there's a warm coffee element, balanced out by a smattering of chocolate applause, & a sweet sling of hoppy nip at the end. All of which melds into a single chorus of happy. The balance on this monster is remarkable. None of the tastes or apparent ingredients outweights any of the others, & all seem to insist on complementing one another rather than playing Soviet & Capitalist. Rich, creamy, warming. Really, words fail me. This beer is borderline perfect. I am delighted to unexpectedly have another one in the basement (thanks mully) which I will hold onto for a while. Although I cannot see how aging this would make it any better.