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Hunahpu's Imperial Stout - Cigar City Brewing

Not Rated.
Hunahpu's Imperial StoutHunahpu's Imperial Stout

Educational use only; do not reuse.

701 Reviews
no score

(Send Samples)
Reviews: 701
Hads: 3,497
Avg: 4.51
pDev: 20.18%
Wants: 3,538
Gots: 979 | FT: 73
Brewed by:
Cigar City Brewing visit their website
Florida, United States

Style | ABV
American Double / Imperial Stout |  11.00% ABV

Availability: Spring

Notes & Commercial Description:
Beer added by: tpd975 on 01-03-2009


80 IBU
Beer: Reviews & Ratings
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Reviews: 701 | Hads: 3,497
Photo of airohead2001
2.23/5  rDev -50.6%
look: 4 | smell: 1 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 1.5

This one is from notes.

A - One finger dark head overlying a black as night brew. Great head retention and lacing. There are multiple shades of brown that layer on top of each other within the head itself. Very nice.

S - Pickled jalapeno peppers, stale vinegar, and cinnamon. This is literally the worst smelling beer I have ever smelled. Gross.

T - Better than the smell, but still really bizarre and poorly melded together. Bitter roasts and dark chocolate up front, with harsh chiles and sourness in the finish.

M - Very nice. Rich and thick - just as a heavy, high ABV stout should be. Not much carbonation, nearly perfect to my liking.

D - Not a whole lot here. The overpowering aroma and taste of the jalepenos/chiles leaves a lot to be desired in this beer. And it's a shame too - without the addition of such random, poorly chosen ingredients, such as the chiles, this would make a truly excellent stout. If this were available on tap at the Map Room or any other Chicago beer bar, I would certainly not order it, nor would I ever seek out another bottle.

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Photo of craytonic
2.46/5  rDev -45.5%

Appearance: Muddy black pour with an enormous chocolate mocha head. More carbonation than I expected

Smell: Burn/roast mix of black coffee, chocolate, and dark malts. More burnt coffee than anything, the stuff that accumulates in the bottom of the pot when you leave it on the burner for a few extra hours.

Taste: More of the same, the burnt/roast potpourri of coffee, chocolate, and dark malts. Maybe some prune and cherry juice.

Mouthfeel: Thin and a bit over-carbonated

Drinkability: Low, just not that good. Not sure what everyone sees in this one. I didn't finish the glass, much less the bottle. I thought Zhukov's was better. I guess there is a market for this but I am not it.

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Photo of RossCain
2.5/5  rDev -44.6%

Poured a 2011 vintage into a CCB snifter and shared with my girlfriend

A: Pours like molasses, midnight black in hue with a slow-rising, deep chocolate colored head. The head quickly falls and the liquid sits like oil in the glass. Slow falling, vinous legs drip down the sides of the glass upon swirling. Very attractive beer.

S: Very bold burnt roast profile upfront, heavy on the anise and alcohol. A slight waft of baker's chocolate resides in the background. I have to say, the alcohol and burnt roast character don't make for the most inviting aroma...

T: Wow, there is a lot going on here. Some things in a good way, a lot of things in a not so good way. Bitter, dark chocolate upfront with a very heavy lean on malts roasted to the point of char and a touch of heat from the chiles. The middle of the beer is the hardest to get through but near the finish is not as bad as the previous taste leads you to believe. Instead of a bitter charred bite, the beer starts to finish with a kick of vanilla, a touch of cinnamon, and a pretty good velvety, chocolate cake like profile. However before the sweet taste really sets in, the alcohol rears it's ugly head and leaves a lasting, burning note that makes for a not so pleasant aftertaste. In all, a lot is going on here and it is not exactly well blended.

M: Decent mouthfeel, thick and syrupy with slightly too much carbonation. Full bodied, with a very coating character. Finishes with a tingling burning sensation from the alcohol and a high emphasis on a tobacco like char. Sits EXTREMELY heavily in the stomach.

O: I really wanted to like this beer, I really did. It is possible that Imperial Stouts just aren't my thing but this was a really rough beer to get through. Going in, I was expecting a well blended, smooth and dessert like stout with an intriguing blend of flavors. What I got out of it was a rather harsh beer that I kept wanting to like, but each consecutive sip made me cringe just a little more. I didn't want to waste my $20 investment and thought maybe, just maybe it would start to get better over time. Wrong assumption. The char and the alcohol were just too much and the balance that I sought just wasn't there.

All in all, I had to suck it up and drain pour half of the $20 bottle after about 2 hours of trying to get through it. I could likely enjoy this beer as maybe a 3oz sample, but any more than that seems to become insufferable and hard to finish. I guess my next bottle will have to be brought out amongst A LOT of people. I can't see how many people could endure more than a couple ounces of this brew in one sitting.

By the way, the beer literally made my girlfriend physically sick.

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Photo of abecall98
2.5/5  rDev -44.6%

Shared a 750 ml bottle 5 ways.

A - pours thick, a Beautiful inch thick head covers the motor oil stout. Looking into the glass you notice the head has colored of tan and red, and they swirll together to marbalize a great looking beer.

S - ok, this beer starts to go downhill here. The aroma is of soy sauce and chilies. Really offputting for my stout preferences. The aroma jumps around to slight coffee roast, but the bad smell of the chilies overpowers and ruins it for me.

T - this beer is different. The first sip hits with a slight coffee and chocolate blend, some slight vanilla, then hits you with a cloying sweetness, then some offputting chilies, finished by a slight hot alcoholic finish with cocoa, and it could not have finished much worse. The beer was all over the place and the flavors did not blend well at all. It felt like they just through in a million good ingredients and figured they would all be great together, and simply, it doesn't work well together.

M - very carbonated, creamy, and smooth. This is how I enjoy my stouts. The carbonation could be toned down a bit, but the mouthfeel is still amazing.

D - this beer was a tough one to drink. All 5 of us said it was a rough beer, and hard to enjoy. The messy flavors ruin the beer I was expecting to enjoy. The heat from the alcohol is noticable, and offputting. I didn't want anymore of this beer, so the drinkability suffers.

O - this was one of the biggest beer dissapointments IMO. The flavor was all over the place, cloying sweetness, chilies, and alcohol ruin what could have been a good beer. It was close to unanimous that this beer was far from good. I really went into this unique beer with an open mind, but was still just dissapointed in the end. Not worth the hassle to get and try this messy beer.

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Photo of daryk77
2.56/5  rDev -43.2%

2012 vintage, thanks to macrosmatic for the bottle.

A: very dark, coffee colored head that dissappears quickly.

S: dark and bitter, little boozy with a meaty bite.

T: burnt chocolate malt, sharp and harsh. Not getting any vanilla here. Can pick up a tiny bit of cinnamon and bitter chocolate, not much pepper either. Pretty strong on soy sauce flavor here.

M: thick and rich, decent carbonation comes through.

O: not what I expected at all. Very little of the extra ingredients are shining through. Really a lot of soy sauce happening with a bitter chocolate fInish. This is odd because I have had Zhukov several times and that beer does not have these same base characteristics. Would love to get more vanilla to balance out these harsh flavors. This was a miss for me, would not buy again even if it was an off the shelf beer.

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Photo of Rifugium
2.76/5  rDev -38.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2

I've had this on a few occasions now. I was entirely underwhelmed by it the first time, so I had to give it multiples tries in order to understand why this beer is praised so much. And I still don't get it. This just simply is not a good beer.

The look is good enough: dark brown-black with a wispy tan head that dissipated almost completely; few legs on the glass. Aroma was pretty basic for a stout, dark malts, some roast, with distant spice notes. For all that's put into this beer, the flavor profile is extremely weak. Dark roasty malts typical of a basic stout, stale tobacco, some sugary sweetness with a hint of cinnamon, cocoa powder, anise, something vegetal that could possibly be construed as hot pepper, but comes off more like dill pickles, with no real burn or nice peppery taste going on. The mouthfeel is on the thin side, which seems to be what makes this beer suffer the most; body is medium, very light for a stout, much less an imperial stout, and the alcohol warmth, while present, isn't too intense.

Of all the over-hyped uber-beers, this one probably impressed me the least, and to think that there is an entire day devoted to this beer, kind of baffles me.

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Photo of francisweizen
2.76/5  rDev -38.8%

This one didn't really do it for me. It poured a dark cola brown/black with a decent white/mocha head. However the aroma was VERY sweet, like sugar and coffee and dark malts dipped in sugar and than encased in a shell of sugar. Taste was very sweet. It seems like their is a good beer under the sweetness but it really is hard to tell. Mouth feel is slick and sweet. Drink-ability is altered by the sweetness. Why the hell is this so sweet?

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Photo of HuskyinPDX
2.78/5  rDev -38.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

25.4oz bottle poured into a snifter glass.

A - Deep Chocolatey brown with a deep brown head consisting of large bubbles.

S - Chocolate, chiles, and some coffee.

T - Strong Chiles, Chocolate, and Tobacco- like a old wet, used up cigar.

D - Mild Carbonation, oily in the mouth.

O - I was really looking forward to this one, but I was dissapointed. The ingredients are clearly present, but not in an appealing way. The wet tobacco flavor was just too much for me. The chile flavor was also present, but it didn't seem to fit.

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Photo of Cedromar
2.92/5  rDev -35.3%

Alrighty, finally acquired some bottles of this one and decided to crack it.

The appearance is f*cking gorgeous. This is what a stout should look like. Pitch black and pours like motor oil. A nice three finger chocolate marshmallow head upon a somewhat forceful pour.

Smell is, meh. Some vanilla and cacao, not much going on in the sinuses for this one.

Taste is, again, meh. I get a *hint* of vanilla, a good amount of the cacao nibs, but little to none of the chiles. You can kind of tell it's there, but not really. Maybe it was more present super fresh?

Mouthfeel is like the appearance, a wondrous experience. So creamy and smooth. It sets the standard for mouthfeel on a stout.

Drinkability isn't bad, but it wasn't smart for me to try and drink this one by myself. I'd probably recommend nothing beyond a 10ox pour of this one and even that may be a bit much.

It's a decent brew, in everything except taste. Which sadly is why we all drink these, isn't it?

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Photo of kevinv
2.99/5  rDev -33.7%

2011 vintage shared with 2 non-BA's, my Dad & sister, sometime in early April. Big thanks to Belthor for this one.

Poured into a snifter.

A - Pours a thick jet black with the darkest head that I've ever seen. The head was about a 2-finger billowy chocolate color and had great retention. Great lacing.

S - Large amounts of spicy chili's with a slight vanilla undertone. Also present is roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and sweet dark malts. It definitely smells different, but not so much in a good way.

T - Up front are notes of cocoa, a mild coffee, and a little vanilla. I can't get past the sickeningly sweetness that follows next. On the finish, I get a lot of cinnamon and a little bit of spicy chili's, but both are more unpleasant than anything. Very strong presence of burning alcohol.

M - The mouthfeel was good and pretty much what I'd expect. It was smooth, creamy, rich, and fairly full-bodied. My only gripe was that it seemed to be a little over carbonated.

D - Overall, the drinkability just isn't there for me. The taste is unappealing and tough to drink, given the sweetness and alcohol burn.

I'm glad that I got a chance to try it, but that'll be it for me.

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Photo of bryang002
2.99/5  rDev -33.7%

Maybe I built this one up too much but I was greatly disappointed with 2013 Huna. The look and feel of this beer were amazing but for some reason all I could smell and taste was olives.

After a bit I finally got some vanilla undertones but this thing tasted like a olive bomb. No chocolate, no chilies, this thing was a mess.

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Photo of MisterClean
3.11/5  rDev -31%

Thanks to Abel for sharing at his tasting:

A - Pours jet black with about 2 fingers of mocha head. Dissipates moderately leaves some nice lacing. Great job.

S - Melanoidins, chiles, milk chocolate and some light roasted coffee. The melanoidins have almost reached a soy sauce phase and the chiles came as a bit of a surprise. Some alcohol flavors, which are to be expected with a heavyweight.

T - Starts with some malt roastiness and heavy melanoidins, which are a bit cloyingly sweet. Followed by chocolate, vanilla, and a moderate dose of alcohol warmth. Light bittering hops finish the taste.

M - Malt dominated, with a medium to full body. Lots of carbonation and a cloying creaminess. There is quite a kick of alcohol warmth.

D - My expectations were let down by this beer. The alcohol warmth is a bit much and the beer is too cloying. It is almost as if the yeast were unhealthy. This beer could use some heavy aging as well.

In general, I think most BAs are quick to hype imperial stouts and poo-poo the lagers. There are some well crafted imp stouts like Abyss, Old Rasputin, Kate the Great, and Dark lord, but this isn't one of them.

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Photo of Mebuzzard
3.18/5  rDev -29.5%

This is an odd ball stout. It looks great. Dark and rich. Ruby tints

The first thing I got in the aroma was smoked green pepper, and it stayed. The thing with peppers is that they'll dominate taste and smell (at least the green ones and while cooking). No difference here. While cocoa, cinammon, and coffee exist, they are tainted.

taste is just a mess. The cedar, smoke, & peppers don't mesh well in this one. Cinammon adds something different other than musky stuff, but not enough save the tate. And the cocoa is muddle.

Not a good taste. Too bad

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Photo of glazeman
3.25/5  rDev -27.9%

Split with airohead2001. Poured into a snifter.

A: This beer has the darkest head I have seen. I would describe the head as dirt brown. Nice retention and nice lacing. The beer itself is black.

S: I thought this smelled like a candy cane dipped in salsa, plus a little bit of ethanol. Not exactly what I consider pleasant.

T: Some sourness up front and then a lot of the chile at the finish. Some cinnamon and chocolate in there as well, but not as noticeable. I recently had the bourbon county stout with ancho chiles and thought that it had a similar profile to this beer, but found the bourbon county to be much more rounded, and interesting.

M: Nice viscosity, but a bit overcarbonated for my liking.

D. Fine. I enjoyed trying this beer, but would not search it out again.

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Photo of Graffy
3.26/5  rDev -27.7%


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Photo of ShogoKawada
3.35/5  rDev -25.7%

Ah, Hunaphu's. After hating the MZ I got, I was dreading this, but I can say easily that this one is much better.

A- Motor oil black and a thin but heavy brownie-batter head. Sticks to the side of the glass. This stuff is thick.

S- Deep, impenatrable darkness. Intense dark roast coffee and bitter chocolate. A very nice nose.

T- Very sweet- reminds me a little of Dark Lord and of course of MZ. However, the chili spice comes out on the finish and does a pretty good job cutting through the stout. I like it. A little goes a long way, but I like the mild heat that builds. The cinnamon is nice on the tongue, makes it taste a bit like graham crackers.

M- Thick, syrupy, and too sweet. The chile is delightful though and brings this one along, saving it from being too much. Carbonation is too low for my tastes.

O- 2oz is all you need. Chile is nice- saves the beer from being the trainwreck that MZ is. I'd have this one again. Not worth trading an arm and a leg for, but the uniqueness makes this worth seeking out. YMMV.

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Photo of jdprmd
3.38/5  rDev -25.1%

2013 release, served in snifter

A - Black, creamy dark brown head, finger length... not much lacing

S - Milk chocolate

T - tastes like an imperial milk stout

M - Rich and creamy

O - Very disappointed, I would have much preferred the 4 KBS I traded for this... the beer is very one dimensional to me. I served the beer at 55 degrees and over an hour drank this beer and let it warm to room temp. It smells like carbonation was rushed if that makes sense to home brewers. I did not get any of the spice or vanilla... it just tastes like a creamy chocolate milk stout... not that that is bad, I just expected a lot more from this... I think this is the first beer where I gave the highest rating due to the appearance... due to it's price/rarity and what it is trading for I would give the beer a 2 out of 5.

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Photo of blockdude
3.4/5  rDev -24.6%

Not worth the hype in my opinion. This has to be one of the roughest imperial stouts I have ever drank, and it's only 11%. While I admit that it has some bold flavors, it was not pleasant or drinkable by the likes of my palate.

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Photo of GreenCard
3.45/5  rDev -23.5%

This is a review of the one released December 2011. My sister and brother-in-law brought it with them from Tampa.

Appearance: black and syrupy, low head formation, but dark tan/brown foam (never seen head this dark!)

Aroma: big notes of molasses, dark chocolate, soy sauce, rum, vanilla, and pipe tobacco

Flavor: full malty sweetness (almost cloying), but the burnt sugar, coffee, smokiness, rich roast, and cocoa notes do balance it out a little bit; laced with vanilla, tobacco, and cinnamon (in the background); finishes sweet with long-lingering caramel, roast, and molasses

Mouthfeel: full (almost syrupy) body, mild carbonation, some alcohol warmth, but most of the warming comes from the chili spice that slowly builds

Other comments: Woah. It is almost shocking how dark and thick this beer is when it emerges from the mouth of the bottle. I actually did a double-take. I have never seen a beer this dark. Drinks like a meal. I'm glad I tried it, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

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Photo of Beerandraiderfan
3.47/5  rDev -23.1%

Pours a flat looking crude black and brown, almost no head on it, nothing to provide lace or retention. Aroma, didn't pull any chile or cinnamon out of this one, just smelled like a lot of two row and roasting, which is fine.

Taste, muted chile flavors, nowhere near what a good chili beer should have. Solid roast flavor, chocolate was mild. Thickness of the beer was substantial, but for all the discussion about how complex this beer is, I found it to be extremely run of the mill and straightforward. Some chocolate malt, some minor bland chili additions, I don't know where the notion of cinnamon comes, maybe you just have to drink these uber fresh. Unfortunately, I didn't pull any of those flavors out of the fresh rum barrel one either. Didn't really see what the big difference between this and Marshall Zhukov was, other than that one is even more sludge like.

Just flat out, one of the more disappointing top 100 beers I've ever come across. Not a bad beer, but really not a great one either. Take a standard giant stout, make it limited, blam.

No wonder so many of these are on ebay vs. drinking them yourself.

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Photo of muttyd
3.51/5  rDev -22.2%

Thanks to Jespo for sharing this bottle!

A - Jet black with a foamy tan head. Great lacing and sticks all over the glass.

S - Coffee, chocolate, roasted malts, slight alcohol.

T - Follows the nose, but the alcohol character is a bit more pronounced. Chili peppers add a nice flavor to this beer as well. Lots going on in this beer.

M - Thick and chewy.

D - I wish the alcohol wasn't as pronounced. Great beer, still.

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Photo of Gavage
3.55/5  rDev -21.3%

Appearance: black in color with a wispy head that breaks down to a clean surface quickly.

Smell: loads of alcohol, pepper, vanilla, and roasted malt tones are easily detectable.

Taste: big flavor as roasted malt is accentuated by some pepper spice, cinammon, vanilla, coffee, and a hint licorice. Alcohol is a bit overwhelming in the beer's flavor profile.

Mouthfeel: a bit thinner than expected for the style. Smooth at the start, smooth and a bit syrupy late. Long lasting alcohol, spice, and roasted tones linger around in the mouth a while.

Drinkability: this is a one glass per session beer. I found this to be a bit hot from the alcohol and spice for me.

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Photo of siliconalchemy
3.56/5  rDev -21.1%

Just not my thing, perhaps. Seems to be thin for what I expected, and it really doesn't have a flavor that makes me put it up there with the big boys.

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Photo of EricCioe
3.56/5  rDev -21.1%

Had at a chili beer tasting including Mexican Cake, Chocolate Sombrero, Theobroma, Cocoa Mole, and Ghost Face Killah.

This pours a deep but not all that viscous black, surprising given the base beer, but with a nice pretty, frothy dark head. On the nose there is a complex interplay of chili, cinnamon, hops, etc. To me there is just too much going on, too many things seeking dominance and not achieving any sort of balance between them. In the mouth this clears up a bit as the chilis and alcohol combine for a heat presence, with cinnamon and roast providing the backbone of the flavor. The body is medium heavy with a long pleasant finish of heat once the various secondary flavors die out.

Overall, this is a beer in which the quality is absolutely evident but for me it just doesn't sit right. I see why people enjoy it, but I wasn't all that impressed and would rather drink the base.

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Photo of PlinyBeMiney
3.56/5  rDev -21.1%

Looks awesome. Deep and dark, one of the blackest stouts I've seen. Dark tan head, I love it. I smell the chile's and not much else. Smelled a bit oxidized as it warmed, not as pleasant. Taste is decent. Standard RIS with flavors of chile and very faint chocolate. The vanilla was absent until it warmed a bit. The unfortunate oxidization masks the potential of both the cocoa nibs and vanilla. I was hoping these flavors would be the highlight of the beer. Mouthfeel is nice and creamy. Overall, I'm a tad disappointed. I see the great scores, yet I'm perhaps distracted by a fridge full of Black Tuesday and Chocolate Rain that I know will never let me down. I can't help but think that Goose Island and the Bruery are way ahead of the flavored stout game.

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Hunahpu's Imperial Stout from Cigar City Brewing
100 out of 100 based on 701 ratings.