Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

Oskar Blues Brewery
Lyons, CO

Available: CO, CA, TX, AZ, WA, NY, MA, PA, ID, NJ, RI, CT, VA, GA, FL, WI

Colorado brewery Oskar Blues has for years pioneered the use of cans for craft beer, and in Ten Fidy has what is probably the world’s only imperial Russian stout in a can.

ABV: 10
ABW: 8
Color: opaque black
Bitterness: 100
Original gravity: 1110

Sometimes a girl just wants to snuggle up with something big, dark and handsome. And Ten Fidy fits the bill. Like its namesake, Ten Fidy comes out of the 12-ounce can looking like a thick pour of jet-black motor oil, but with an impressive dark, espresso-foam-colored head. One whiff, and a blast of alcohol hits you square in the nose, reminding you that size sometimes does matter—and Ten Fidy weighs in at 10 percent. Coffee and bitter chocolate pair up with dark fruit flavors of cherry and cranberry, swirling in a thick, swampy (in a good way) gumbo in your mouth. Ten Fidy's theme song should be "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers because it just keeps on rollin' around in your mouth—making everything all right.
- Lisa Morrison

Interesting times. I've never had an imperial stout in a can before. It's time to put aside packaging prejudices and taste this on its merits. And merits it certainly does have. This near-black beer has a stunning consistency—luxuriously thick and ultra-smooth— a comforting backdrop for full, bittersweet flavors of liquorice, coffee and chocolate. Bitterness picks up in the finish, although it's still rather sweet to the end, despite bitter chocolate and liquorice lingering. I wouldn't rate this as one of the most complex imperial stouts I've ever tried, but that texture is something special.
- Jeff Evans

Lisa Morrison
Morrison, aka the Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever and wherever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.

Jeff Evans
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.

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