Imperial Stout is one of those styles you would never expect to see come from a can, yet Oskar Blues Brewing is doing just that with their Ten Fidy, a burly motor oil of a stout that’s 10.5% alcohol.
Oskar Blues is of course most famous for being the first all-canning microbrewer, producing big bold beers that turn the general notion of canned beer (that of being weak industrial brew) on its ear. Ten Fidy takes that a step further, putting a huge and delicious beer like an Imperial Stout into a can (and one with a rather innocuous but great design)—rue the unsuspecting person that grabs and chugs this by mistake. It may well be the only canned Imperial Stout out there.
Appearance: Pours thick and oily from the can, very little carbonation though a chocolate-brown head builds up a bit after the pour. Dark brown/black and thick.
Smell: Sweet coffee, rich and syrupy like molasses. Doesn’t really move beyond “thick and sweet” in the nose.
Taste: It’s very sweet in the mouth too, dark chocolate that’s liberally sweetened with coffee liqueur. The alcohol is hidden well, dangerously so. Roasted malts (more coffee-ish) without being astringent or too bitter.
Mouthfeel: Thick and syrupy, a creamy full-bodied presence.
Overall: Decadent chocolate-y sweet, very nice. It’s sweeter than I’d expect, but that doesn’t hurt a bit.
On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of A. On RateBeer, it scores 4.09 out of 5 and is in their 100th percentile.