AleSmith Decadence 2007

Formerly brewed at AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
San Diego, California USA

From bottle courtesy of dpjuart. Subtle smoky chocolate malt in the nose, with light alcohol and some bitter hop resin. Some estery Tootsie Roll and licorice. Alcohol vapors. Dark black clear with rocky roamy light tan head. Medium light watery body with medium to light carbonation. Starts sweet with caramel, licorice, chocolate and light smoky coffee. Oak and a bit of vanilla, followed by sweet lactose and a hint of butterscotch. Thin, but tons of flavor and a bit of alcohol. Really nice impy porter. Well balanced and delicious.

Bottle shared with blankboy, HogTownHarry, jerc, mabel & tupalev - courtesy of blankboy. Deep brown-black with ruby hints and a small tan head. Awesome sweet & malty aroma - caramel, cocoa, slightly burnt malt. Big mouthfeel. Flavour starts sweet with some dark chocolate and caramel, moving into a long, roasty and well hopped finish. Lovely!

Bottle at Rudy’s tasting May ’08. Pitch black, small bubbly tan head. Strong roast aroma - very nice. Strong bitter/roast taste. Very dry, there is a ton of hops and roast in this sucker. Long bitter roasty linger. Alcohol not really a factor. Alesmith knocked this one out of the part, great stuff.

750ml bottle shared courtesy of Josh. Poured a deep mahogany color with a small sized tan head. Aromas of dark fruits, chocolate, vanilla, roast, and nuts. Tastes of chocolate, dark fruits, vanilla, tobacco, and nuts. Alcohol content well hiddne.

This is turning into a series that I’ll be following for quite some time. While I liked last year’s iteration, I was hoping this year’s would run the ante up a bit. Pours with all the right looks....dark brown color...fluffy tan head. Superb aroma....malty toffee, cocoa, and the like. Flavor is sweet malts, dark fruits, and more of that chocoate that was so evident in the nose. Nearly full bodied...nice alcohol edge with the slightest smokey hint...interesting. Wish I had grabbed more bottles!! Great job Alesmith----as usual.

750mL pours near pitch with big tan head that cascades beautifully. aroma it of big dried fruit and some chocolate, vanilla, and alcohol coming through as well. mouthful is a bit tangy with the dried fruit taking precedence but that is followed up with some bitter cocoa and then some alcohol. nice big porter with tons of character.

750 ml bottle. Lots of dark roasted and burnt malt aromas off this very dark pour. Flavors were chocolate and coffee and dust and more burnt malts. Pretty yummy.

Poured a dark dark brown almost black with a tan head. Aroma was disappointing and weak, not much there, but just lead to the flavor surprise. Flavor was excellent, very roasted, nice coffee flavor and some sweet chcolate malts there also, everything mixed together very well and also balanced out the big ABV pretty well also.