Barley Johns Alfreds Porter

Formerly brewed at Barley Johns Brew Pub
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
New Brighton, Minnesota USA

Hand-bottled from a growler: Pours a rich oily black that coats the glass with brown edges and a thin off-white head. Rich, complex, sugary, dark fruit and cherry aroma with thick, sweet molten caramel and a touch of bourbon oak and alcohol. Starts very robust and sweet with sugary maltiness and dark fruity complexity build up the body and hide the alcohol wonderfully, with only a light warming as it goes down, especially since this is 14%. Many thanks to footbalm for sending some of this down to Georgia!

First of all, HUGE props go out to Footbalm for getting me this beer. Tasted side by side with its aged brother, Dark Knight. 11.3oz hand bottled bottle. Served at 54° in a NB worthy glass. Pours dark, dark black with a slight haze for a head, more than the Dark Knight, but not much. Coats the glass and has legs. Aroma is buttermilk, dark chocolate, coffee, dark berries? BIG flavor. Roasted malt and a big coffee flavor, along with syrah notes. Sweet at first, with a bit of a lactic flavor. The hops kick in next with a rush of bitterness and an earthy, spicy finish. The aftertaste is dark chocolate milk and espresso, when the hops subside. Great mouthfeel, really coats the mouth and has a nice "soft" feel to it. Finished the last few ounces later @ 62.5°, it was just as good or better than before. This beats the hell out of the overly barrel influenced Dark Knight. I feel sorry for the Dark Knight that it gave up so much character to gain some bourbon and wood flavor.

Thanks to footbalm for including this as an extra in our last trade. Pours dark brown/black, with a small, tan head. Aroma is roasted malt, some dark fruit, chocolate, and even a little vanilla. Flavor is sweet roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and dark fruit. Body seems thicker than Dark Knight, which makes it perfect. An excellent beer, not quite as good as Dark Knight, (the bourbon adds something) but it will be included as one of my favorites.

not sure of the availability...had a sample one visit, had a snifter the next, hope it’s there when next I stop in... Toasty tan ring of foam, large, though not so long-lasting, and the body is a solid, thorogh, excellent black coat. Nose is rich, roasty, notes of rum and molasses, sweet, and complex. Taste: luscious and warm, thick and sweet, huge mouthfeel, rushes in and hits the palate. Fits the profile of the Baltic porter, but kicked up a notch. I lorded over this one, relished in it, reveled over it...there’s a woodiness, too, a solid, thick, coffee, and caramel and thick, malt, utterly delicious. I’ll be back for more, again, and again. P.S. When I first heard of the Dark Knight Imperial, I wondered whether the brewer was a Batman fan...with Alfred’s, that suspicion is confirmed!

Another huge thanks to footbalm (and Captaincougar). Poured a dark black color with a thin tan head. Malty aroma was mildly roasted. Just enough to smell it without it being burnt or overwellming the aromas like many big beers in this style can do. Notes of chocolate and cherries were also detected. MMMM...chocolate covered cherries. I also picked up a good bit of alcohol in the nose but the beer was a little warm and that might have brought out the alcohol. Sweet malty flavors, coffee, chocolate, and just a touch of fruit. Mouthfeel was smooth and creamy. Light warming sensation with well hidden alcohol for 14%. Everything was in nice balance.

Tap @ Brewery in March 2005 when I was back in Minnesota. I grew up only a few miles away from this brewery, although I was long gone before it opened for business. Black color with a laced brown head. The aroma had lots of vanilla, alcohol, toffee and some toasted malts. Very sweet finish but at the beginning it had a roasted lingering malty dryness. Fantastic.

St. Paul Winterfest 2004. Fresh, milk chocolate aroma. Pretty good. Fully opaque. Light brown head. Very good. Very rich. Very heavy alcohol mouthfeel. Wonderful. A pleasant surprise out of Barley Johns. I understand this brew is a precursor in brewing process to Barley John's Dark Knight.

An opaque black beer with a disappearing brown head. The aroma is sweet with notes of alcohol, over ripe fruits, and prunes. The flavor is sweet with notes of prunes, chocolate, toffee, and grass.