Full Sail Top Sail Imperial Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged

Formerly brewed at Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Hood River, Oregon USA

Bottles thanks to Beerlando and Sparky27 = thanks! Darkish pour with a thick aroma of bourbon, vanilla, and raisins. Very sweet and syrupy with lots of bourbon, dark fruit, vanilla, and some chocolate. Not bad, but should have been better - just a bit messy.

Name: BA Imperial Porter
Date: 03/22/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party
Vintage: 2008

Appearance: black, fine tan head,
Aroma: sweet whiskey and dark chocolate aroma,
Flavor: lots of bourbon flavor long with the chocolate and dark caramel sweetness, lots like a bourbon filled chocolate candy,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4.1/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***+/4

Huge thanks to General Gao for this 2008 vintage, 650 ml. Pitch black with a two-finger head that settles quickly to a small ring. A few spots of soapy, brown sugar lace are marooned on the glass. Aromas of chocolate-oatmeal cookie, vanilla, light peanut butter, whiskey and coffee. Flavors are similar with vanilla, oak, and more harsh whiskey than expected from the aroma. Medium-heavy body is smooth and dryish; thinned and warmed by the alcohol.

Bottle 66cl. [ Courtesy of cgarvieuk ]. Clear dark black color with a large, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, light brown head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, chocolate, cacao, vanilla, whisky, alcohol - metanol. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long to average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft, finish feel is light to moderate alcoholic. Very nice ;o)) (260708)

Bottled. Deep, oily black pour, not much head. A little bit of dry roast in this is overpowered by tons of bourbon. 10 months in a barrel is far too long for a beer like this (or pretty much any beer). There really is little left of this beer other than a watery liquor, and accompanying alcohol burn. A huge failure.

<b>2008 Release; Sampled September 2008</b>
Pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a well browned, dark tan colored head that starts out three-fingers in thickness. The beer is quite black looking, though it does show flashes of ruby color if held up directly to the light. Wow, quite aromatic with a huge toasted coconut aroma, lots of vanillin, rich buttery oak notes. A touch of spicy, warming Bourbon notes come it at the end of the aroma along with a touch of toasted malt character and some faint, though sharp, slightly acidic, burnt malt notes. The beer plays a far distant secondary role to the barrel character here, luckily the barrel character is fairly smooth and the huge coconut note makes this quite interesting.

Flavors of vanillin and soft butterscotch up front yield to some browned malt notes in the middle and then some roasted, dark grain flavors that add a touch of sweetened coffee notes to the finish. This has a touch of saltiness and some perceived smokiness to it that at times seems like a peat influence; this nicely offsets the light sweetness that is accentuated by the malt and vanillin notes. The finish can have a warming, almost hot, Bourbon like bite to it, but at other times it has much more of a toasted coconut flavor to it as the vanillin and buttery oak notes combine in the lingering finish. While this is a sipping beer, I like that it has a certain lightness to it and certainly does note seem overly heavy.

I like the aroma on this beer, though it is certainly one dimensional in its barrel focus. It is actually a bit one dimensional in its barrel focus all around; it certainly works a bit more in the aroma, but on the plus side more of the base beer character comes through in the flavor, though it is still a reduced, secondary role. Interesting, but the Porter flavor are a bit too undefined for this to really work. Less barrel influence or more Porter character is needed to push this to the next level. Still tasty and enjoyable & certainly none of this beer is going to waste (I sense an adventure in blending coming on).

Pours a dark dark brown with an off white head. Aroma was mainly bourbon and burnt coffee. Flavor was more coffeeish like a stout than the usual roastiness of a porter. The bourbon stands out way too strong here.

Pours dark brown with a thin white head. Smells of bourbon, light malt, boozy. Tastessweet and boozy with an earthy finish and lots of dark fruity hints.