Barley Johns The Dark Knight (Returns)

Brewed by Barley Johns Brew Pub
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
New Brighton, Minnesota USA

The Dark Knight (Returns) version. Short version of the review: Bourbon disguised as beer. Slightly longer version: Pitch black, basically now head. The liquid doesn’t look very viscous, rather thin actually. Massive bourbon notes take the lead in the smell, notes of vanilla, coffee and cocoa. Lots of well integrated alcohol. The malts struggle to get through, but the bourbon rules supreme in this one. Bourbon and hot alcohol basically attacks the mouth in wave after wave. Really powerful and rich taste. Big notes of vanilla and oak. After a few sips, more nuances of somewhat sweet dark fruits, cocoa and dark chocolate manages to come through. The malty backbone is present but restrained. The finish has a decent bitterness to it with lots of warming alcohol and, what do you know, more bourbon notes. Medium body, not as big as one would perhaps believe. Smooth and elegant texture. Mild carbonation. D: What a beer! Nine times out of ten I would prefer the bourbon notes to be more restrained than they are in this one, but for some reason I think this one manages to pull such a bold character of. Although the beer is completely dominated by bourbon, it’s still rather complex (wouldn’t dare to call it balanced though). It’s also important to note that you can really tell that it’s an imperial porter rather than an imperial stout; it doesn’t have the big body, nor the massive roasted malt character of an imperial stout. And I think this plays an important part in the success of the beer, since a bigger body, stickier texture and bigger roasted flavors would probably be to much with all the bourbon. With the porter backbone, it actually manages to come out as almost easy to drink. Serving type: growler (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Growler. Rating #4600. Pours a black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted malty bourbon and chocoalte aroma with some woody hints. Sweetish roasted malty chocolate flavor with lots of bourbon flavor and hints of vanilla. Has a roasted malty chocolate finish with hints of vanilla and bourbon in the aftertaste.

Gowler 300cl.
[ Trade by BDR ]. Clear dark black color with a small to average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, light brown head. Aroma is heavy malty, roasted, caramel, chocolate, coffee, alcohol. Flavor is heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, and a warme alcoholic finish. Body is medium to full, texture is creamy to syrupy, carbonation is flat, finish feel is moderate alcoholic. [20090724]

Auction. Wow, Incredible. Brown pour with minimal head. Definant chocolate and roasted malty goodness. A good bitter finish and a real good body. This might be one of the best porters in the world.

Black wth a medium deep beige head. The aroma with burned malt, coffee and dark bitter chocolate. Flavour was sweet with burned malt, chocolate and espresso notes. Finished sweet with warming alcohol. Nice one.

Courtesy of Fonefan, growler. It is pitch black with a fat, oily mouthfeel – yummi. The aroma has notes of bourbon, licorice, coffee and plum. The aroma has a light sweetness and notes of roasted malt, coffee, licorice, bourbon, wood, plum, raisin and the alcohols is well hidden. It is a truly nice and very, very harmonic beer.

In the madness of DLD09 a very kind soul appeared and shared some of this long sought after brew. Fortunately, this more than lived up to the hype. Pour was black with a medium sized tan head. The aroma was so good it was difficult to start drinking the beer. Bourbon, chocolate, roast, dark fruit, molasses, and vanilla. Once I decided to take the first sip I was rewarded with rich chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, bourbon, wood, vanilla, molasses, dark fruits,with some alcohol that does not distract. This continued to develop as it warmed a bit and proved to be a complex standout beer. This was right up there as one of the stars of the day.

Growler, many thanks to BDR.Black in color with a small coppery brown head. Aroms is heavy with bourbon and molasses. Also has bold aromas of coffe, dark chocolate, vanilla, wood, and prune. Taste is just as bold with coffe, bourbon, molasses, vanills and dark chocolate. Thick syrupy mouthfeel with an alcohol burn as it goes down.