Rogue Imperial Porter

26/08/2009. Hashigo Zake. What do you drink after an (as usual) amazing dinner at Wellington’s best Indian (Great India). A black chocolate delight of a beer. Perfect sipping for the cool nights of late winter. Intense dark chocolate flavour with an underlying sweetness that carries more than a hint of dark currants and raisin, along with a pleasant alcohol warmth... and then a long bittersweet finish. This beer as true super heavyweight and. although it feels a lot bigger and sweeter in the mouth, it is just as drinkable as the XS Imperial Stout. Thumbs up and high-fives for Rogue.

Pours a brown black with a thin cappuccino head. Smells of vanilla, biscuits, and oatmeal. Creamy palate. Tastes of smoked malt, alcohol, mocha and vanilla. Deliciously caramely tastes mostly hide that alcohol, though.

Bottle at Stockholm Beer and Whisky 2009. Dark brown coloured with a small beige head. Sweet and roasted aroma of vanilla and dark chocolate. Roasted flavour of dark chocolate, vanilla and hops. Dry roasted and hoppy finish.

Bottle 750ml Swing-top. Poured black with a good sized, frothy, light brown head which lasted well. Strong notes of fruity hops in the aroma with notes of grapefruit, pineapple, overripe peaches, hop resins, caramel malts, light notes of chocolate and hints of earthy leather. Flavor was a good tropical hop bitterness with toffee malts, caramel, passionfruit, pineapple rings in syrup, overripe nectarines, light roasted notes, touch of chocolate and hop resins in the finish. Very well hidden alcohol content. Medium to full bodied with medium carbonation, a dry/hoppy mouthfeel, somewhat syrupy texture and a long finish. This one seemed a little everywhere IMO – seemed like the result of pouring half a bottle of Imperial IPA into half a bottle of a good quality Foreign Stout.

This 750 ml tankard of ale was purchased at Macs on West Peachtree. Looks damn good. Didn’t pour a very viscous-like pour, but it does have a black body with a nice tan head. Looks like a great porter to me. Aromatic syrup malt aroma. There is a noticeable alcohol presence. Stout like aroma, but it isn’t very roasty. Has a decent syrup malt aroma, but it isn’t nuanced as I thought it would be. Wow, the flavor is a bit different. I nice roast, musky leather smoke flavor. This beer has a nice burnt malt stout-like flavor. Nice hoppy background flavor as well. This porter is damn good. The smell wasn’t that great, but the flavor just amazes me. The palate isn’t as creamy as I was hoping it would be, but still an average texture. That hop/roast combination is very nice, and should be complimented.

Opaque Dark brown with a creamy tan head. Roasty chocolate aroma and taste with some nice burnt coffee notes.

Bottle (in NZ). Was called "liquid marmite" by some of my drinking companions - no idea! Lots of chocolate for me. Delicious, memorably smooth, and scarily scoffable!

Source:Tap at Barleys a while back.
Glass:Pint.
Appearance:Black pour with a thin tan head.
Aroma:Roasted malt, coffee and ashes.
Flavor:Roasted malt, nuts and coffee with a hint of chocolate.
Palate:Full body with soft carbonation.
Overall:Pretty good. Just a little much in the summer time.