Knee Deep Imperial Tanilla

Brewed by Knee Deep Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Lincoln, California USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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Bomber from Total Wine in Sacramento, CA. Pours dark ruddy brown with a small bubbly tan head. Aroma is chocolate with a hint of smoke, with some vanilla. Med + body. Flavor is chocolate (still with a hint of smoke), smooth burnt malt, vanilla, and maybe something a little herby like anise. Also suggestions of toffee/treacle. Not a hint of the heat. With time it turns a bit astringent. Quite a taste treat, and it seems rather complex to me.

Bottle. Poured clear dark brown color with an average frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate toasted sweet chocolate malt and vanilla aroma. Medium body with a creamy texture and flat carbonation. Medium sweet flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration. My expectations were met.

Bomber poured a clear dark brown with a small lingering tan head. Aromas of cocoa, vanilla, carmel, eartrhiness and light roastiness. Palate was medium bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of roastiness, bakers cocoa, light vanilla and light earthiness with a smooth dry lingering bakers cocoa finish.

On tap. Pours with a near black hued body with a small tan head. Some minor lacing. Aromas are of vanilla, coffee, mild roast, chocolate, alcohol and a lot of dark fruit esters. Flavors are of coffee, roast, dark fruit, bready, chocolate, mild coffee, licorice, some toasted coconut, dark fruit. Acidic currants dominate a bit. Viscous. Warming. Alcohol really sneaks up. Thinner body for the abv, lower carbonation.

Super dark brown pour, light brown head. Vanilla up front and vanilla in the finish. In between I get lots of roast, chocolate and some coffee. Way better than the regular version.

Strong Ale 2012. Dark brown colored pour with a khaki head. A fair amount of roasted malt, some vanilla, coffee, and toffee sweetness. A bit metallic, some dark chocolate, and maybe some water. There’s a decent bit of vanilla, some toffee sweetness, and quite a lot of roast. A bit of dark chocolate, metal, and coffee.

Sample at GABF 10/11/2012, thanks to Bluemeow76 for assistance with note-taking. Brown-black pour with a medium tan head and strings of lacing. Aroma of malt and vanilla. Full-bodied with flavors of sweet malt, vanilla and milk chocolate. The finish is sweet with a vanilla/chocolate aftertaste. Pretty good overall.

22oz bomber pours with a deep clear amber body supporting a tan head of foam. The aroma offers up toasty toffee and caramel as well as some dark roasted malts and more toffee into the end of the draw. The taste is similar with dark roasted maltiness, toasty almost burnt toffee and then a thick layer of yum. I get an additional note of caramel like sweetness joining in into the finish. Pretty nice.

Bottle and served in my 30 yo crystal stein: Pours a deep brown with a creamy tan head and left very good lace upon the stein. The aroma has notes of vanilla bean and vanilla extract, macadamia nuts, toasted bread, and a soapy off note. The taste while displaying a nice vanilla character is sort of lame with the rest of the base porter notes, some nutty and roasty tones with just a dash of piney hops and boozy undertones. The mouth feel is ashy and somewhat dry, brash alcohol upon the finish. The beer seems not have meshed well at all and is quite tepid outside the ABV. I would expect something like this from In-Bev/AB and not from an actual craft brewery.

On tap at Toronado. Dark brown with garnet highlights and a fizzy tan head. Vegetal coffee and chocolate aroma. Bright palate and a plasticy coffee and chocolate taste.