Empyrean Dark Side Vanilla Porter

Rating #1600. 12 oz bottle courtesy of hundred dolla Bill. Best enjoyed by 08 09 notched on the bottle. Pour is deepest brown with slight ruby highlights. One inch tan head falls with no lacing. Aroma of roasty coffee malt and some ashiness. Mild tobacco leaf. Not much beyond that. Taste is the roast, with some vanilla sweetness behind that. The finish is smoky, and a little charred. Palate is light bodied, medium to high carbonation. Nice enough, though a bit watery and one dimensional. Thanks for bringing these to the house Wild Bill.

On tap @ Lazlos. Pours dark brown with a medium tan head. Light chocolate, vanilla, and roasted aromas and flavors. Tasted a little thin, but wasn’t a bad beer.

Pours dark brown with tan head. Smells of chocolate, coffee, vanilla extract. Tastes roasty and sweet with some nice bitterness and a touch of vanilla.

(on tap at Lazlos in downtown Lincoln). Pours a clear, dark brown color. Medium tan head which is mostly diminishing. Light malt and vanilla aroma. Vanilla is stronger in the flavor than in the aroma, with good balance with the malt flavor. Avg duration. Good lacing. Thin texture. Moderate carbonation.

Pours a deep brown with thin beige head. Aroma is very sweet vanilla. Oddly though, the vanilla flavor is not nearly as noticeable in the flavor, which is dominated by coffee malt. Vanilla is just noticeable enough to smooth out the coffee bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin and watery. It’s not a great beer by any means, but it’s a nice, smooth-drinking porter.

Poured dark brown with a beige head. Lots of vanilla, roasty malts, chocolate, and a little coffee in the nose. Flavor is dominated by the sweet vanilla, not enough bitterness to balance it.

Deep hazy brown with a little bit of copper when held to light. There head is medium khaki. The aroma has some chocolate and roasted peanuts. There was also some light vanilla. The taste is bitter cheap coffee with some vanilla in the finish. There is also some nasty weird blueberry. This is pretty bad and unbalanced.

Courtesy of our beer traveler Tpd975. Pours light hazy brown with beige head. Aroma and taste, of nice sweet vanilla, light roasted malts with the right touch of coffee. Was expecting a lot more sweetness of the vanilla beans. Woudln’t mind trying some more.