Full Sail Imperial Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged

Brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Hood River, Oregon USA

Thanks to Degarth for providing this one. Poured black with a tan head. Aroma was bourbon, chocolate, carmel, and oak. Flavor is bourbon, chocolate, and dark fruits. Very mellow with a smooth mouthfeel, and even some tartness.

2004 sampled in 2006: This is better younger. Pours black-red, small foam and oily lace and coating. Acrid roast soured milk, plus chocolate, this is alot like malted milk balls. Fusel notes burn the sinus slightly. Bourbon character restrained. Lingering hop bitterness. Slight woody note in the finish, too. Chocolate seems to come and go as you make your way through the glass, with a bittersweet dark chocolate character.

Courtesy of Degarth. Pours black, tan head. Bourbon aroma, Bourbon taste, theres just bourbon all over the place, you get some chocolate, and roastiness that then gets kicked in the face by a liquor taste, this really just didn’t taste that good to me.

Courtesy of Goldtwins <P> Aroma is strong with bourbon and oak, dark fruits and roasted malts. Black body with a thumb thick mocha head. The bourbon pushes around the other flavors such as the oak and tart chocolate, vanilla and molasses.

22 oz bottle, shared by cquiroga - thanks Chris! Pours black and opaque, small tan head leaves spotty lace. Nice rich aroma, bourbon character immediately assaults the nostrils, molasses and dark fruits with kahlua. Again, in the flavor the bourbon character is predominant, chocolate fudge as well, promounced alcohol presence and a roasty bitter finish. Smooth, full and rich body, gentle carbonation. Quite nice.

Tap at Horsebrass Pub, PDX. Imagine the suprise, walking back along the row of taps to see written on a sheet of paper, taped to a tap handle "Full Sail Bourbon Barrel Imperial Porter". The first thing I ask is this for real. Yes is the answer, quickly we order up and are asked "Would you like a pitcher?" Yes, Thank you very much. This relic pours a deep black color, not much else manages to show through. Decent tan head forms and leaves great lacing. Aroma is a wonderful blend of bourbon, chocolate and vanilla. The closest approximation I can come up with is a vanilla chocolate chip. Full bodied, smooth. Aging hasn’t hurt this beer at all. Full roasted grain flavor with chocolate, vanilla. Some higher alcohol notes from the barrel I suppose. Blended nicely, quite a treat.

Chocolate influenced straight bourbon smell. Pitch black in appearance, eternally ponctuated by a large light brown head. It gains a lot in mouth, where the sheer size of the roastiness manages to counterbalance a bit the extreme bourbon influence. It nevertheless leaves a very warming sensation for its size, herbal rather than vegetal fortunately. Complexity is only enhanced by the wild herbal, vanilla and plum notes. Light-medium bodied, biting carbonation, very sweet, very roasty and very long in the finish.

Sampled @ GABF- Pours a jet black, creamy brown head. Aroma is booze, buttered popcorn, some dark fruit and vanilla. Flavor is lots of bourbon, barrel dominates this one. Chocolate, molasses and nutss as well.