Midnight Sun Oak Aged Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter

Bottle. Intense nose heavy with strong roast and dry oak. The pumpkin character is spicy and meaty, the intensity is just barely overtaken by the roast, dry wood and char, but there’s a distinctly sweet cream pie note that develops as the beer opens up. The nose alone suggest the base beer is a stout. Body is medium to light, but it is 7.8% so it’s not weighted down by sugars. Otherwise it has a "medium fullness" - full in the mouth up front during a gulp but then petering out on the back. Up front it’s slightly sweet pumpkin spice, a faint note of whipped cream and creamy pumpkin pie filling with a subtly sweet chocolate syrup character. Dries out a small bit across the middle and leaves a dry, roasty, oily film coating the mouth for a long time after. Overall it’s an exceptionally well done pumpkin stout, the promised chocolate and pumpkin are delivered, and though the oak ageing isn’t really that obvious to the tongue, I can say with certainly that I enjoyed this one more than the non-oak aged version (2007) that I had a few months back. Great beer all around, especially well suited for a cool autumn night.

22 oz. bottle - 2008 release of the oaked 2007 batch; jet black, thin and oily; bourbon and wood aromas dominate; pumpkin just isn’t there anymore; silky smooth and oily texture; vanilla and chocolate; wow, a silky almost stout-like brew; sadly the complexity of the regular ICPP is faded and dominated by the oak aging; still fabulous on its own, but a case where oak aging didn’t not improve the base beer; but to be honest, not sure how to improve on the ICPP as it is just a masterpiece

22 of the 07; thanks, SuzyGreenberg! Black, virtually headless. Laceless and still. Woody nose, a bit of chocolate, coffee are there too--not much pumpkin left though. Chocolate, coffee, and wood on the mid-palate. Much milder than the base beer, and not as interesting for it. Neutral finish.

Bottle, at BA Throwdown #2. Pours a very dark brown, creamy head, nice lacing. Very spicy nose, allspice, nutmeg, pumpkin, some woodsy notes. Spicy flavor, chocolate, pumpkin, some roast, big notes of allspice, cinnamon, some creamy vanilla. Creamy body, spicy, big roasty finish, medium body, and feels lighter with every sip.

Bottle courtesy gunhaver. Pours black with a small tan head. Huge aroma of pumpkin pie, roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and a hint of oak. Taste is the same as aroma with a touch of caramel. Medium mouthfeel with a moderate amount of bitterness and smooth alcohol. A very tasty brew.

2008 edition: Molasses brown. Pasty, enticingly creamy cinnamon head. Chocolate malt, fudge cake, nutmeg and black licorice aromas leap from the glass. Mild whiff of vanilla beans and clean alcohol. Snug, feather-soft carbonation. Bottle conditioned. Wonderfully textured malts lend a mousselike denseness and fluffiness to the well-attenuated body. Extremely lush and mouth filling, with pale malts adding vanilla cake accents to the multitude of dark fruit and malt flavors. Emphasis is almost solely on the malt, although, in the wake of the malty richness, dabs of artfully restrained fruity esters and doughy yeast poke through deposit a chocolate taffy note. Borders on the brink of being one-dimensionally soft, however, as it lacks scratchy roast and, with this being barrel aged, wood-derived tannins. Drinkability is through the roof as the alcohol is not remotely a factor. Body suffers after a few gulps as the slickness becomes tiresome and a metallic and unripe plum tingle lightens the weighty malt girth. Structure and definition curiously go by the wayside as it finishes sugary and flabby with a colalike and chocolate wafer sweetness. Sort of a mixed bag. While the spices are used judiciously, and the malt is full and clean, things unravel rather quickly. Decent.

From a 22oz Bottle. Sampled side-by-side with the un-oaked version. Mostly transparent, dark brown colored pour with a thin head of creamy tan. Subtle oaky notes of vanilla present in the nose, but the pumpkin and spice notes of the base beer dominate the aroma. Hints of nutmeg and chocolate, but there’s a hearty baked pumpkin sweetness layered in there as well. Medium bodied, lightly carbonated mouthfeel with a creamy texture. Flavors of milk chocolate and baked pumpkin flesh up front along with some restrained cinnamon and nutmeg spice. Some woody spice and mild vanilla come through in the finish. Like the base beer, the balance between un-roasty dark malts and authentic pumpkin flavors is exciting. The oak dimensions are interesting, but don’t seem to add anything beyond the splendor the base beer already brings. That being said, it’s still delicious. Thanks for sharing, Chris!

Vintage 2007 Pours opaque black, with a thin, tan head. Some ruby around the edges, and the head dissapated quickly. A few errant dots of lacework. Aromatics lead off with chocolate, nutmeg, cinncamon, and pumpkin. A vineous, almost tart note steps forward, and a hint of oakiness. Full bodied, slick, chewy, and velvety. Chewy, lush mouthfeel. Dark chocolate, pumpkin pie spice, espresso, Kahlua, and roasted malts start the pallet. A red-wine-like vineousity pulls through and adds some depth. Alcohol is warming, and the beer is quite intense. Finishes with lingering chocolate, nutmeg, and coffee. Definately the most intense Pumpkin beer, ever. Not in the Pumpkin aspect, but in the Imperial Porter one, with the Pumpkin playing second fiddle. The oak doesn’t really come through though. A bourbon barrel version would be kick-ass.