Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Brewed by Flying Dog Brewery
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Frederick, Maryland USA

Dégusté avec French tickler et Agaguk, version 2007 dégusté dans un verre de 3 monts, courtoisie de French tickler par un contact en géorgie. Apparence noir opaque avec une faible mousse collant moyennement au verre. Arômes de chocolat noir crémeux et trace d’hicory. Goût de chocolat noir, d’hicory, de caramel et de houblon avec une touche de fruit rouge. Une bière très crémeuse et équilibré. Wow!

355ml Bottle shared with Fench Tickler and Grand Genie. Black appearance with a bubblely creamy brown head. Aroma: burnt malts, chocolate, molasses, hops, creamy, coffee and cream soda. Flavor: hops, burnt malts, coffee, molasses and black cherries. Palate: medium body, creamy, oily, soft carbonation with a burnt malt finish.

Bottle purchased 3/09. Black with a thin tan head. Faint metallic smell blended with some maltiness. The 7.8 is hidden well in this porter. Nice malty flavors accompany a light mouthfeel. I would have liked the finish to be longer to give the flavors a little more time to evolve, but overall a good beer.

When I first had this beer I came home drunk, opened up the cellar drank it then puked. It was one of those things.... you know like Southern Comfort with many folk, where you become afraid of something that made you vomit. Perhaps that’s why I went with the cautionary 7oz nip this time. Maybe I’ve just grown up enough to drink it. Lord only knows why I decided to try it again, but I’m glad I did. This has got to be one of the best flying dog beers I’ve had to date. Pours a deep black with a nice tight tan head that produces a small but very nice lace. Aroma reminds me of Sierra Nevada porter but hoppier, with some nice raisin and molasses notes. Flavor carries the theme of the aroma but is much more complex. Plenty of good fruity notes, not in a sweet cloying way at all though a little raisin and some fantastic hoppiness. Followed by a coffee on chocolate flavor that mixes like some sort of barista angel made it. All of this is unfortunately underlined by this weird molasses sort of chemical sweet flavor that seems out of place in our little flavor symphony. Overall though this really brings home the ol’ bacon flavor wise. I can’t imagine what I was so offended by those years ago.

It is alright but I can’t get excited. I just don’t like porters. Sorry. Overly strong flavor, overly strong color. If you are a porter lover knock yourself out!

Bottle (Kaisla, Helsinki) - Black in colour. Hoppy and chocolatey aroma. Rather sweet and hoppy taste which is quite soapy. Coffee and chocolate feature in the taste. The finish is hoppy, sweet and roasted. Not a traditional interpretation, but still very nice.

Wow. This beer truly surprised me with its uniqueness. A very dark, essentially black pour with a dense light brown head which leaves moderate lacing. The aroma in bottle is all hops, but in glass is a beautiful balance of roasted coffee malts and pungent floral/citrusy hops. The taste is again surprisingly complex hitting all the right taste buds, again with bitter hops and delicious coffee malts leaving a great dry coffee aftertaste. Not as strong a body as I’d like considering the 7.8%, and with just a touch less hops it would be (in my mind) perfect.

Pours black with a thick brown/tan head. Aroma is pure hops. Creamy malt flavor backed up by the bitterness of the hops and the roasted malt. Pleasant dry finish. Very complex and unique. Not bad!