Full Sail Top Sail Imperial Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged

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

22oz bottle thanks to a trade from RustyChiles. I hope some people got to try this at the Pre-DLD gathering. Pours black with a beige head. Flavors are rich, chocolate, roasted malts, and bourbon that are rich but blended well. Chocolate, bourbon, burnt flavors with a touch of vanilla. The notes are blended well and this is all around a fine beer. Thanks Rusty!

Finally, 1000! Pours black with a thin tan head. Bourbon vanilla aroma comes jumping out of the glass. Nice medium body with a taste of dark fruit, vanilla and chocolate malt with some hints of the wood barrel. Finishes with a nice woody, vanilla flavor. Excellent beer.

Bottle. Aroma of bourbon with overripe fruits, light toffee. Flavor again dominated by booze with some coffee. A bit syrupy. Much preferred the BA Imp Stout.

22oz bottle from my man JW77. Interesting. Quite vinous on the nose. Notes of rum soaked figs and plums. Huge bourbon presence. Some charred wet wood. Roasted vanilla bean and alcohol. Pours a silky near opaque brown with a nice lasting thick khaki head leaving excellent lacing. Dark bittersweet chocolate at first on the tongue. Lightly roasted malt, milk chocolate, more wet wood, alcohol. Good, but really lacking some oomph. Flavor starts out quite nice, but really lacks from midpalate back. Virtually no finish. Velvety on the tongue. Minimal carbonation. The mouthfeel really redeems this overrated beer.

Poured from a 22 oz. bottle. Oily brown-black. Syrupy bourbon and fat chocolate malt aroma of moist german chocolate cake, frosted with toasted coconut and burnt caramel. Simplistic, in decadence. Satisfying. Flavor less so. Maple syrup and cloying sweet buttery bourbon notes of milky honey and coconut brittle. And a bit of somewhat lactic tart-sweetness of oak, alongside a black malt soap. Briefly dry. Bitter nutty maltiness and thin cardboardy roastiness predominate toward the finish with a blank expression. Medium body softly carbonated and full of juicy roasts, though it gets pretty medicinally astringent at the end. Thoroughly boring and fairly pleasant; too much bourbon and too much char. Thanks Andy!

Aroma is rich with the scent of dried fruit and bourbon. Color is solid black with light carbonation and just a thin ring of tight tiny bubbles around the edge. Taste is rich, sweet and oaky. Starting with a full rich body it goes down a little sharp with a sweet feel. Finish is full of flavor with a robust dried fruit (figs and a little plum) flavor, a bourbon/oak and a deep roasted malt flavor. After taste comes in sweet with an alcohol feel, then turns to a bitterness that leaves you with a dry feel. Its like a Barley Wine with a touch of bourbon. This is one amazing brew and I would love to get more.

Updated Rating 3/14/09: 22 oz. bottle - 2008 vintage; side by side w/ ’09 non-BA version; identical in appearance; bourbon dominates nose - vanilla, oak, cookies, little to no roastiness; soft velvety texture; thin body; lots of bourbon sweetness and mild chocolate; a lovely beer and just as the base beer, a little one dimensional; the barrel has taken a thin beer and made it thinner; bourbon has not faded w/ a year of aging; a tasty and delicate beer; looking forward to 2010 :)

Original Rating 3/25/08 (Overall Rating 4.3): draft @ uber tavern - finally making to seattle and it was certainly worth the wait; syrupy and pitch black with dark brown head around the edges; bourbon shoots out in the aromas, but also a rich mix of oak, roasted malts and coffee; flavors are equally thick and smooth; feels stronger than 9.85% too, so drink slow and savor; just a delicious beer

Bottle thanks to BMan1113VR. Pours a dark glass coating dark brown color with a medium brown colored head. Nose is wood smoke, vanilla, figs, and connecticut broad leaf tobacco wrapper from a cigar (sort of earth and chocolately). Taste is chocolate creme, cocoa nibs, milk chocolate, wet wood, and a delicious balsamic vinegar and confit of fig spread I recently had. Mouthfeel is soft yet syrupy, with a lengthy finish that is slightly alcoholic.