Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Pours like used motor oil, thin brown head that lasts. Aroma is of coffee, sweet breads and a a bit musty. Flavor of coffee, then dry chocolate, then a nice mild chocolatey finish.

12 oz bottle

This is a case where the bark is worse than the bite. I was looking forward to trying this based on other reviews on the site. Now that I have I think I will skip past this whenever I see it on the shelves again. While it is not flawed in any particular way it didn’t get my pulse racing or even catch my interest. This is a case of a beer that is average in most every regard.

Aroma / Appearance - The deep black body swirled fluidly around my glass as a tannish head developed above. Banana peppers, hazel, vanilla and cinnamon blended into a sweet concoction that was most like coffee with a few creamers thrown in.

Flavor / Palate - Coffee mixed with dry tree chips was a nice introduction without any wow factor. The taste of a cup of cooled hot chocolate came next along with a trace of smokiness. All in all there wasn’t anything particularly bad about it. It just lacked any sort of characteristics to set it apart. If you are into baltic/imperial porters it is worth a try. If not go straight for a quality imperial stout instead.

Bouteille de 355 ml. Arômes de grains torréfiés avec une présence marquée de houblon (floral et résineux). Robe noire opaque, légère mousse mocha. Moyennement ronde en bouche, les grains rôtis et le café accompagnent le houblon américain. Finale moyennement amère. L’alcool demeure bien camouflé.

Bottle from Julio’s Liquors in Westborough, MA. Great flavor with a wonderful balance of chocolatey coffee malts and hops. Barely any head, but the slight head it had was almost a dark copper color. Simply a great beer that is definitely worth trying.

Bottle from Total Wine in Roseville, CA. I like me an imperial porter, but why is it in the category of a strong ale? This one was very full tasting with dark flavors throughout: chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, etc.

Draught at The Red in Santa Cruz. Black with a tan head that leaves plenty of lace. Roasty cocoa aroma. Plenty of chocolate flavor, with lower bitterness and not very much harsher roast flavors. Lighter fruity flavors, and a little dry dustiness in the finish. A little on the sweet side, but remains fairly balanced. Full and smooth body. Nice stuff, really sipable, but pretty straight-forward as well. Actually, I could pretty much drink this like it was a regular porter, for good or for bad.

Wow. I opened this thing up and when I started poring I could not believe my eyes. This stuff makes Guinness look like a light beer. The aroma was very pleasing. I usually find Flying Dog to be a little too bitter but this is a very well balanced brew. Highly recommended for porter or stout fans and hop heads alike!

Bottle from Total Wine in Roseville, CA. Poured a brown almost black with a tan head. Smelled of chocolate and coffee. A little bitter for my taste, but excellent flavors of chocolate and molassas. Full-bodied beer that they call a porter, but is in the American Strong Ale category...wierd.