Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
San Diego, California USA

On tap at Capone’s. Dark brown, almost black, with a thin tan head. Smells of coffee, cocoa, and general roastiness. The flavor is coffee, oak, vanilla, and roasted grains. Medium-full body. Lots of coffee at the finish. Very yummy.

22oz Bomber – Gravity Beer Market – Olympia WA
Aroma: Big malt and vanilla/coffee and sweet aroma.
Appearance: Dark black in color, clear with a thin head.
Flavor: Big flavors with malt, vanilla and coffee.
Palate: Dry finish with a Super Mouthfeel.
Overall: This was a great beer very sweet this was to be drank as a after dinner drink.

On draft at Capones. Pours a clear black colour. It had no head when it got to my table so I’m unsure if it had one when it was poured from the tap. Smells of coffee, vanilla, malts, and chocolate. Vanilla, coffee, oak, malt and chocolate flavor. Ehhhh.

Bottle via trade with toncatcher. Deep opaque brown-black body, medium clumping tan head. Vinous nose with notes of coffee, roasted malts, and vanilla. Vanilla hits the palate first, backed by roasted coffee beans and licorice. Robust body. This really reminded me of drinking a cold, carbonated, flavored coffee. And, no, I don’t mean that in a bad way. Exceedingly competent but falls short of greatness.

Bottle shared by nimbleprop: Pours a mostly opaque black with a thin ring of wispy light tan head. Aroma of rich complex vanilla and coffee with sweet dark caramel undertones. Starts with a rich full malty sweetness and earthy vanilla and dark caramel well balanced with bittersweet dark chocolate before a mildly warming complex chocolate coffee finish. A very good imperial porter.

Bottle 22fl.oz.
Clear dark red brown color with a average, frothy to creamy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, light brown head. Aroma is heavy malty, roasted, coffee, cacao, wood, vanilla, chocolate notes. Flavor is heavy sweet and moderate to heavy bitter with a long duration, dry cacao and a peppery finish. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20091114]

22oz bottle shared at the DC Local tasting. Pours a slightly watery otherwise opaque black with a spitty tan head. Nose is big on coffee, wood, smoke, brown sugar. Flavor is sweet and delicious, vanilla, brown sugar, caramel, cake icing. Finish is sweet and sticky. I enjoyed this a lot.

Pours a very deep dark brown while pouring out of the bottle but looks pitch black and completely opaque in the glass with only the slightest hint of mahogany edges when held to a light source. Foamy one finger light tan head that has decent retention, only slowly settling into a lasting cap and ring that leaves sheets of lacing in it’s path. Sweet chocolate malty aroma with a very nice roasty character and subtle vanilla. These combined aroma produce a tootsie roll like chocolate coffee scent that is mouthwatering. The roasted coffee bean presence becomes more prominent when it warms. Subtle hops become evident beneath the lactic, silky chocolate notes. Very complex aroma, hopefully the flavor lives up to it. Chewy silky malt dominated full body with a huge roasted coffee bean presence. Lots of silky chocolate malt and some subtle mellow vanilla notes but the flavor is a bit overpowered by the very intensely strong deep roasted coffee, espresso bean. Hints of oatmeal, toffee, very burnt toast and licorice with a nice dry bitter hop character in the finish. I can’t overemphasize how much of a strong burnt/roasted coffee presence there is. It’s a bit too harsh for me and extremely bitter, taking away from the silky chocolate and vanilla notes that I liked so much. Alcohol heat mid-palate that becomes stronger at the end of the swallow and produces some warmth in the finish. Pretty complex but a bit one dimensional for me. Recommended for fans of roasted coffee and big coffee beers.