Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

7oz bottle. $13.99 Mix Pack sampler from Julio’s Liquors. Vintage 08. Nice head with good lace. Strong roasted malt flavor. Delicious. 2/26/08 - Bumping this one up a couple points. This beer is growing on me. I definitely liked it at first taste but I seem to be enjoying it more each time. Will definitely be getting more of this.

TAP: At the Happy Gnome (St. Paul, MN) on 2.14.09. Big black pour with good lacing. Aroma is roasted malts, with sugar and dark fruit in subtle amounts. The fruits are less subtle on taste - there’s some red wine charaacter (although far from a barley wine) in the taste. Excellent porter.

Bottle. Pours dark with a dark head. Aroma: some chocolate, roasted malts. Flavor: hops, roasted malts with a mild coffee finish.

351 mL bottle. Pretty much opaque black, with a film of brown head. Aroma of coffee, cocoa powder, and dark malt. There’s that stout-like astringency in there, as well. The flavour is full of roast, vanilla, raisins, cherries,sticky caramel, and alcohol, with hops from start to finish. Very nice. Body is full and smooth. Tough to distinguish from an I.S. Excellent.

12 oz. single - $2.79 at Total Wine & More in Kennesaw, Georgia. Listed as "Vintage 09". Appearance: Pours a black body topped with a frothed, tan-colored head. Smell: Cutting aroma of charred black malts, dark chocolate, fragrant colophony, and even chiffonade mint leaves. Taste: Bittersweet, fudge-like chocolaty malts coupled with sharply roasty black maltiness and its taste of fire-scorched coffee grinds. Strongly sweet, though this is tempered somewhat by the bitter qualities of the roasted malts blended with the bitterness of the earthy, resinous, pine-tinged hops. As with the nose, there’s a touch of spicy mint. Drying, bitterish finish with a final lingering taste of creosote. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Soft, creamy mouthfeel. Drinkability: It’s certainly one of Flying Dog’s better offerings. Paired well with the bittersweet, oft melancholy tones of the Kings of Convenience and Pedro the Lion. It makes me a bit wistful for the barrel-aged Gonzo.

Bottle. Black. Smells malted barley, hops and lots of chocolate. Complex flavor of hops, raisin/butter-like tones. Lots of chocolate and roasted tones in aftertaste.

Flying Dog Oak Aged Gonzo(Sample Date: 1/26/2009 Source:Capital Ale House - Downtown) Roasty with some wood in the aroma. Very dark with a small white head. Flavor of dark fruits and caramelized sugars with some oak up front. Dry finish with the whiskey coming through. Nicely balanced.

Bottle.Pours black with a big brownish head. Hops de luxe aroma, also some spices.Tastes of coffee, chocolate, long aftertaste. Balanced.