Beer Review: Ten Fidy

It's been a good couple weeks for beer drinking. I've tried a lot of tasty malt beverages as well as found a number of brews I'd been lusting after for months. In general, I find most beers don't live up to their hype. I've tried nearly 60 from the top 100 list on BeerAdvocate.com, and don't really feel like most of those beers are among the best 100 beers in the world. This holds even more true when I get beers close to the top, sure they're pretty amazing, but it's hard to accept that, for instance, only nine beers are better than Russian River's Pliny the Elder. Yes, it's damn tasty, but so are a lot of beers.

I say this because I recently had the pleasure of trying Ten Fidy from Oscar Blues, a Russian Imperial Stout I'd been hearing buzz about for a while but hadn't seen in the flesh. Well come last weekend it alluded me no more, and just a few days ago I sat down to drink it. Again, I found a tasty yet seemingly over-rated beer (#56 in the world). That's not really the beer's fault, so I hold no grudge. Besides, the black can is pretty sweet.

Ten Fidy
Oskar Blues Grill and Brewery

B+ / 4
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

Wow, it does pour like oil from a can. It's sitting pitch black and viscus in my glass with a short tan head.

The aroma is hoppy at first then I'm pulling out cracker and toasted biscuit with a light note of dark roasted grains. It tastes a lot like slightly watered down chocolate syrup in that its got a lot of cocoa with sweet sugary feel. The aftertaste has a hit of roasted brley along with citrus rind and grapefruit hops.

Overall, the flavor profile and aroma are different than the average RIS. And for a 10% beer, it's pretty drinkable and the alcohol is well hidden. However, for such a big beer, I'd expect bigger flavor.