Full Sail Imperial Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged

Brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Hood River, Oregon USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Chocolate and Bourbon are pronounced in both aroma and taste. Let this beer warm up in a snifter and the flavors blend very well. If you cant decide between bourbon and beer, this is your compromise!

A-- Poured black. Very late erupting dark brown head that quickly dropped to film. A bit of retention but not a lot. No carbonation. S-- Bourbon, oak, vanilla, stewed figs. Sweet nose with the bourbon and figs being most dominant smell. Quite sweet smell. T-- Bourbon and vanilla with some figs. M-- Chocolate, oak, roasted fig, and mocha. Medium low carbonation and very heavy feel. Bourbon and vanilla finish. Alcohol is very obvious in the mouth. D-- A little harsh with the bourbon. A bit boozy. Smells sweet but actually not sweet tasting. Very much a sipper and worth cellaring to see what happens. Not bad at all.

UPDATED: AUG 12, 2012
Name: Imperial Porter 2012, Barrel Aged
Date: June 23, 2012
Mode: Bottle
Source: Hop City, Atlanta
Appearance: black, creamy tan head, streaks of lace
Aroma: tart bourbon aroma, rich chocolate, touch of vanilla sweetness
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor, sweet bourbon, caramel and vanilla, balancing barrel tartness
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **+ /4

Bourbon oak and vanilla aroma. Big unbalanced bourbon taste. Very good sipper or with food but tough to put down by itself kinda too sweet.

This is what became the Top Sail, right? Not really sure what the difference would be except that this version was much less mass produced. Haven’t had since sometime around 2007/2008...I do remember the bourbon notes being excessive, but in a good way, mixed well with the original beer. Also vs. the Top Sail - much less thin! Would choose this over the Top Sail if given a choice.

22oz bottle, 2012 vintage. Pours black with a big tan head that recedes slowly to a thick cap and leaves some decent lacing. Aroma is heavy on the bourbon and oak with some vanilla and dark chocolate sweetness. Roasted malts in the background. The taste is a little unbalanced with the bourbon dominating with less base beer coming through. The base beer I do get is heavily roasted malts and bakers chocolate. The finish isn’t so great with the oak barrel and alcohol burn standing out. The feel is light to medium bodied with the barrel thinning things out a bit too much for me. This isn’t a terrible beer but I just don’t think the base beer stands up to the barrel and the resulting beer is unbalanced and less than drinkable. Not as good as Black Gold.

Roasted malt dominates with sweetness appearing too. Very dark, almost black with khaki head. Smokiness with an almost cocoa flavor. Bitterness is present but smoothly finishes. Very easy drinking, almost silky. Very nice imperial porter that is not too filling yet retains characteristics of style.

Bottle from South Bay Drugs: Glad to see this made it down the coast to San Diego, finally. Poured a pitch jet black with a tiny layer of foamed head. In the nose, there’s a scent of roasted malts, wood, vanilla, whiskey, and a blend of coffee. The flavor is bold and has an underlining sweetness with a little bitterness hiding in the background. Has even more elements to be found in the flavor than the aroma suggested. Some of these flavors are vanilla, cocoa butter, roast malt, coffee creamer, and a strong bourbon taste binding everything together. It was kind of hard to tell that this was a porter, and not a stout, so that says a lot about the character of this porter.

22 ounce shared thanks to Seth. Weak to light body with nice vanilla and bourbon going on in the taste. Aroma a bit off, say my notes.

22oz Bottle Pours out dark brown almost black topped with a tan head. Aroma was of bourbon, coffee, pit fruit, and a little vanilla. Taste was more of the bourbon, some sweetness, roast malts, and a barrel finish.