4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
12 oz bottle. Pours a dark brown with a small off white head leaving sticky lacing along the glass. The aroma is vanilla and oak. Medium mouthfeel with syrupy malt and chocolate and nice sugary finish. A very impressive imperial porter from Thomas Hooker.
4.1 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Boy does this one jump up at ya. Smells and looks absolutely fantastic. Very dark, wicked roasty chocolate smell. Nice head with great lace. Thick and creamy roasted coffee with a bit of chocolate and molasses. Ends with a warm alcohol taste, then throws more roasted coffee at ya. Very good beer.
3.4 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Very dark brown pour. Aroma of of roasted malts, chocolate and alcohol. The beer tastes very chocolatey and earthy and hides its strength well. Very bitter for porter. Very smooth and leaves some chalking after finish. Nice balance of contrasting elements.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
Pours a deep honey brown .. . medium head on the pour, ends up a respectable headring .. light lacing .. . sweet molasses, sugar, and light vanilla .. . light mouth .. light burn ... decent .. . . Somebody told me it was frightening how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared..
3.1 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Location: 12 oz bottle from Buy Rite, 10/24/11
Aroma: A malty nose with some roasted and burnt malts, and drops of chocolate and coffee
Appearance: This one pours a dark brown color with a small light brown head and mid heavy lace
Flavor: The taste is similar to the nose, malty and roast, light-medium sweet, hints of earth on finish
Palate: Light-medium bodied (lighter then expected for the style), with a creamy mouthfeel, and no burn
Overall Impression:
Overall, I thought this was a decent Imperial Porter, but it just didn’t quite hit for me. There was something a little lacking, maybe a little thin, about it in both flavor and body, that kept the score from being higher.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle. Possibly a slightly old bottle. Pours a deep black to brown with a medium sized beige tan head. Big plum and cocoa, a bit of age. More age apparent in the body, roast, paper, aged cocoa. Still a decent amount of body, but some gaps where the oxidization is starting to break things apart. A good amount of thin cool chocolate, roast on the finish. Has held up fairly well. Nice warming alcohol shows up very late, and very subtly.
3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Pours a dark brown color with off-white foam head. Aroma of caramel, citrus and earthiness, with hints of chocolate. Has a sweet caramel taste, with notes of chocolate and coffee. Perfect hop layer to balance things out. A pinch of vanilla would perfect the beer. But it is still really damn good.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 15/20
12 ounce bottle - $2.79 at Total Wine & More in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Appearance: Pours a dark brown body with one finger worth of beige suds. Small smattering of sticky lace on the descent.
Smell: Roasty, oven-cooked nuts in the aroma with supporting bready, chocolaty notes and a background herbal, earthy hop tone, though, as it warms, this grows a bit.
Taste: Roasty, toasty malts with some soothing tones of bitterish cocoa powder (okay, maybe not so soother), blackstrap molasses (not particularly soothing there ,either), and caramel (soothing), though not too terribly much sweetness present. Some plums roll across the tongue. Earthy, resinous, herbal hops with plenty of bitterness throughout, moreso than I recall being there in this brew ages ago. Who knows. Either way, it’s there now. As this potentially newfound bitterness begins to accumulate on the tongue, the roastiness takes on a sharp, bolder coffee taste. Roasty, bitter finish with a lingering bitterness and dry malt accents.
Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Has a good, creamyish texture to it.
Overall: It’s been a long time, Hooker. I recall seeing them far more often at the marketplace around 2006, then, I recall a few infected large-sized swing-top bottles (got one myself), and, after that, they seemed to all but vanish from the stores in GA. Now, I’m seeing them a bit more, now with their entire line-up in twelve ounce capped bottles it seems. I’d revisited their doppelbock late last year, enjoyed it, and now it’s time to revisit the imperial porter. It’s good, thankfully not infected, but seems more bitter than I recall.
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