Flying Fish Imperial Espresso Porter

Brewed by Flying Fish Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Cherry Hill, New Jersey USA

Bottle via JB175. Dark color. Smell of coco powder, malt, hops, caramel, coffee, toffee and alcohol. Taste of roasted coffee, caramel, hops, chocolate, pine, toffee and brown sugar. Wonderful coffee, caramel and chocolate aftertaste.

4-pack from Total Wine, River Edge, NJ...bottle pours black with a tan head...rich aroma of coffee bean and semi-sweet dark chocolate...flavor is much of the same with roasted malts and a mild bitterness...I was expecting more of pronounced coffee flavor but it was well balanced...really tasty, good sipper.

Bottle. Pours dark black with bubbly head that dissipated quickly. Aroma of coffee/malt. Great mouthfeel, not too thin. More coffee notes seem to come out as it warms.

12 oz. bottle. Pours virtually black and does not allow light to pass through. Moderate bubbly light tan head quickly and completely disappeared in about 30 seconds. Pleasant aroma of coffee and lightly roasted malt. The flavor is again coffee and lightly roasted malt along with an odd sweet flavor that doesn’t seem to belong here that I can’t quite pin down. Thankfully, it only lasts a few seconds. Some coffee and hops bitterness at the finish. The mouthfeel is also a bit thin. My overall impression is that this beer needs some work. I enjoy coffee porters/stouts very much, but this one just doesn’t seem to be put together very well.

Bottle, bonus from Ty5592, drunk on 10/3/07, aged some 4-5 months.
Very lovely appearance, looks like Flying Fish went all out on this one, with sediment at the bottom and what looks like a bottle conditioned, rich, dense, lasting tan head atop a mostly clear, maroon-mahogany tinted dark brown body. Moderate lacing as well.
Sweet coffeecake-like notes arise in the aroma, with a shy amount of dryness/tartness from the dark malts peeking through the finish. A fair amount of residual sugars are brought to the nose, with the strong, tight carbonation, and cookie-dough vanilla mixes with the choco-coffeebean flavors to linger long on the finish. Clean yeast with low fruitiness and seemingly no flaws. As it warms, the coffee flavor softens, and the beer gets fudgey-sweet in the nose. Banana esters and some glue-like vapors emerge, unpleasantly, though the dry coffee still commands some authority. Medium-high strength of aroma.
Terrific amounts of succulent chocolate-fudge and vanilla-caramel maltiness give the impression of a full body, as creamy, tight carbonation helps intensify this character as well. Minimal scratchiness from the dark malts, and a very flavorful coffee create a highly drinkable beer, that still manages appropriate attenuation, for all the maltiness. Went down very fast, I must admit, with just a marvelous texture. Warming found the malts grow slightly too sweet/tacky and allowed some odd esters/phenols to emerge, just as in the aroma, but I was just about done with my glass by that time. Some dark malt/coffee astringency builds up on the finish. Alcohol not noted.

Thanks to theisti for this one. Pours a very dark black-brown with no head at all. Aroma of dark fruits and lightly roasted coffee. Taste is a fizzy medium body with coffee, mild chocolate and some prunes in the end. Thanks T.

One would think a beer called "Imperial Espresso" would be REALLY coffee tasting. In this case, one would be wrong. Not that this is a bad beer by any means - in fact, its pretty good - I just thought it was odd that coffee is ultimately a roll player in the flavor. Pours black, with a nice brown head. Aroma is fruity - raisin and prune - and chocolatey, with coffee in the background. Flavors is pretty much the same, with chocolatey, fruity notes dominating and a subtle coffee flavor in the background. Thanks to Ty5592 for the trade!

GABF ’07. Pours black with an average, creamy, light brown head, lasting with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, molasses, chocolate), light hops (flowers, grass), average yeast (leather) with notes of tar and vanilla. Full bodied, creamy texture, soft carbonation, and a metallic finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness, light acidity and bitterness.