Churchill’s Finest Hour

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Imperial Stout
San Marcos, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bomber courtesy of wavers1 – thanks Baker! Pours crude oil black with a one finger mocha head. The nose is nice bourbon, oaky vanilla, dark chocolate. The taste is ashy cocoa, wood, sweet bourbon and coffee. Creamy mouthfeel. Very good!

Bottle. Black with milky tan head. Nose of baked brownies, chocolate, oak and vanilla. Taste of vanilla, chocolate cake, oak and brownie.

Gold wax covered bomber, courtesy Hopscotch. The body is a pitch black color and topped by a smooth head of tan colored foam. Some small lines of lacing are left behind on the glass. The aroma is based on dark chocolate, roasted barley, earthy hop bitterness, and notes of bourbon and vanilla from the barrel. Some dark fruits also start to come through along with rich caramel. The flavor follows suit with the rich dark chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and oak as the dominant flavors. The bourbon adds a nice warming quality and the earthy hops add countering biterness to all the sweet flavors. Full bodied and smooth on the palate with balanced carbonation and a nice warming finish. This is a really nice barrel aged stout, and one I am glad to have tried.

Bottle generously shared by Wavers1 @ Dak’s...thanks Baker!!! Really looking forward to trying this and, although really good, it just couldn’t quite make the leap to great. Mahogany bordering bubonic plague with a latte head that never goes away. Like an annoying friend or your mother-in-law, it stays beyond its welcome. Cocoa, vanilla, dark fruit, and bourbon in the nose. Flavor also shows molasses, maple, caramel, and brown sugar. Fairly creamy mouthfeel. Pretty good.

Bottle. Shared graciously by Mothman. Roasted malt along with a slight bourbon note in the aroma. Very good head retention. The taste has notes of the roast malt, dark fruits, with a nice slight bitter coffee aftertaste. Pretty smooth. Really happy we didn’t get a soured bottle as some have reported. The 1 thing holding this beer back is the mouthfeel for me. It just is a little light in my opinion but other than that this is a pretty good beer.

Non Infected Bottle shared by the uber generous Wavers1 at Dak’s house of beer porn on the day of July 29 2010. Pours a nice deep brownish black with a brown head. Aroma is vanilla oak, bourbon, chocolate. Ther beer is creamy and smooth vanilla, oak, tannins, bourbon, chocolate, mouthfeel is slick chocolate and cream and the alcohol is very subdued. This stuff is awesome, one of the best barrel aged stouts i’ve ever had if not the best.

Bottle, thanks Matt. Open with a big hiss, and foam actually starts creeping out, which is weird for this style. Pour is black with a huge, spongy beige head. Nose is pretty much dark malts, some bourbon, and a really strong chocolate that borders on annoying. Slightly tart in the mouth, some dark sour cherries. Boozy and hot. Doesn’t really work as an imperial stout because of the sour level, but actually not bad when looked at as a dark sour ale a-la Perseguidor 4, Black Cherry Bomb, or Sinners 09. Not quite as good as any of those though as the body is really overly thin. Not great, I don’t see any reason to age these further.

Bottle shared by Alex (Masterski) and poured into CCB snifter. A - Pours black, tan-colored head that large and frothy (uh-oh), some lacing along the sides of the glass and a nice cap remains. S - Freshly baked chocolate brownies, milk/dark chocolate, dark fruits. Really a wonderful-smelling beer we have here. The chocolate notes were unlike anything I’ve had recently, in a good way. T - This is where I encountered a problem. This beer is infected, no doubt about it. The first clue was the huge huge head and with these tart/sour notes, I can confirm this. So, tart/sour dark fruits, slight chocolate, but really, the tartness is overpowering the beer here. I wish I could have enjoyed this one more... M - Medium, rich, smooth, oily finish. D - I don’t want another bottle, that’s for sure. I wish this wasn’t infected, it had "Outstanding" written all over it until I tasted the infection. What a f’n shame. Can’t recommend.

UPDATED: MAY 7, 2011 My experience is similar to that of pantanap. Bottle purchased at Lost Abbey, the beer has a decent nose of wood, slight whiff of darker malt flavors. But the taste is wood up front and clear signs of infection on the back end. Has none of the richness you would want from a stout and was just simply not good. If you open your bottle now and it’s been stored well, it might be a really good beer. Otherwise you shouldn’t waste your time.

A decent offering, well worth the money and i’d possibly get it again. Just didn’t knock my socks off. had on draft at the release, super boozy and hot and kind of cluttered flavor profile. i prefer each component on its own, too much going on as is.