Three Floyds Topless Wytch

Pours a black color with a small tan head. Aroma is roasted malt and chocolate with a bit of a coffee liqueur. Flavor starts out very smooth and mellow with a strong chocolate presence. Some coffee notes arise towards the finish. Very malty and creamy and mildly sweet throughout. Very little carbonation, and easy to drink without being overwhelmed by any single aspect of it.

On tap at the Three Floyd’s brewpub. The body was black with an orange and light brown head. The aroma was strong chocolate with some oranges. There was also some light coffee. The taste was milk chocolate with some bread crust. There was also some definite black tea. Pretty good.

On tap at the brewpub: This poured black in color with the head completely fading away. The nose begins with coffee and then fades to an herbal/fishwater/funk that was not enjoyable at all. The palate was soft which was surprising given the alcohol level. I just couldn’t get past the fishy smell in the nose.

In short: An effective Imperial Porter. Rather rich flavour spectrum even without much fruitiness. Excellent
How: Tap at brewpub
The look: Almost black body topped by a beige ring of foam
In long: Some roasted flavours along with black liquorice and candies. A light coffee presence (more like a black coffee cup than roasted coffee beans) and an even lighter chocolate presence. Mouthfeel is sticky but pleasant. Nicely hopped with a green and fresh feeling. Didn’t feel all that sweet, which is a good thing. I usually find Baltic Porters too sweet syrupy so I suspect this one is Americanised. Weirdly I thought there was many commonalities with their Decimator Doppelbock that I had earlier that day. Too bad this beer isn’t available in Montreal cause I’d like to add a variation to my late night arguments with my girlfriend when I come back drunk… “Please don’t tell me you again went to a bar and paid for one of those topless bitch”, “a Wytch honey, it was a Topless Wytch this time”.

On tap at the brewpub on 5/31/08. Pours a thin black with a brown head that fades quickly to a ring. Lots of coffee in the nose. A little chocolate and brown sugar, but dominated by the coffee. Flavor was about the same. Brown sugar and chocolate underneath that coffee. Body was a little watery and it sort of lacked any real cohesion of the flavors. It’s missing that extra umph to make this great. This is a lot more roasted than the Red Tendon Baltic porter which was overly sweet, but it seems a lot more simple and lacking in the body. Maybe a cross between the two baltic porters would make for a better baltic porter. But I’m always happy to try another 3F beer.