I heard Imperial City and I thought about the Wizard of Oz. Or maybe this is some legendary city or a Shah’s castle like Indiana Jones was digging up for the ark in China or Asia, with buddhas and ninjas and such.* So I dug up some souvenirs from a trip to pre-spy balloon China to make for a pretty pint pic. Exotic if I dare say so myself.
Then I started to look at the silhouette graphic on the beer can logo and it doesn’t look like any Asian temple that I have seen in Disney movies. It looked to me more like a post-apocalyptic industrial city which could be the set of many many recent zombie movies instead. It turns out that this Imperial City is much closer to home and perhaps not as exotic as I had previously assume. The Imperial City is… get this… Sarnia!** Ontario’s oil town is our Imperial City, who knew?
How about this brew. To be clear, despite the Imperial brew house moniker, this is an Irish, not an Imperial Stout. A beer of the month offering, Christmas in February. Pours as black and substantial as imperial oil, no dipstick required.*** A tan head atop, classic. An aroma of roasted malt, full stout on the snout. First quaff is a bit fizzy, experience tells us that will settle. Roasted barley malt flavour front and center with coffee and cocoa in the background. A lager like mouthfeel. All good. The fizz settles, with a not over the top roasted malt with the coffee and coca starting to step up. Letting this stout warm a bit eliminates the fizz and balances the brew. A classic easy drinking stout.
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