Full Sail Imperial Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged

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

Serve in Snifter

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This is absolutely one of the best beers ever to be and ever will be produced by Full Sail. Not to mention one of the best barrel aged beers I have ever tried. This has a great character you have come to expect from a porter, lots of dark fruits and chocolate, but it also has a great bourbon character. Wood, boozy notes, with vanilla and butterscotch, with just a bit of vinous fruit notes in the finish. RIch, smooth mouthfeel.

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.

Bottle... Poured black with a thin, light, brown head. Bourbon, alcohol and grains on the nose. This beer had a great balance between strong, bourbon tones and sweet malts. I got more of the bourbon tones as it warmed. Charcoal, roasted tones, coffee, vanilla, and chocalate. Palate was thin with a low carbonation.

Different bottle, and gold foil over the cap. This is why I like getting beer delivered on my doorstep. I believe this was sent to me by Diane as a thank you for a small tasting I hosted. Nice thank you box it was! Enjoyed in a limo on the way to a party at Stone. Livin’ the life, I am. Wonderfully rich and smooth and creamy. Everything it should be. Nice beer.

UPDATED: FEB 9, 2011 Thanks to Homerwantsbeer for sharing a bottle. This beer is a dark brownish-black color with a medium khaki head that dissipates steadily. Rings of lacing on the glass. Woody, malty aroma with notes of vanilla coffee. Rich body with a bourbon character and flavors of dark malts, roasted coffee and vanilla. The finish is moderately boozy with a coffee aftertaste. Good beer overall.

2010 bottle. Pour is black brown with a very quick kahki head that dissipates fast. Aroma is big booze upfront reminds me of whiskey with some subtle coffee and licorice in the finish. Taste is more the same with the whiskey flavor real big with some coffee and licorice and dried fruit mixed in there as well. The palate is full and slick oily feel with lasting heat in the aftertaste, then coco and coffee comes out as well. Overall I really like this and the further I drink more flavors sneak though.