Great Dane Bourbon Imperial Porter

Great Taste 2008. My final beer of the festival, and one that I savored. Funny I started the day with Founders Bourbon Porter and finished it with Great Dane’s version. Of the two, I thought Great Dane the better. Notes of chocolate and soy blend with licorice and toffee. The roastedness of it makes one think stout might have been a better monicker, but the sweetness is there as well. Finish was a bourbon and vanilla coffee. Nice.

GTMW ’08. Poured an opaque black color with a brown head. Lots of bourbon in the nose with whiffs of vanilla and soy sauce. Full bodied with the flavors following the aroma (bourbon, vanilla, splash of soy). There was also a bit of roasted malt that came through the booze. A bit more bourbon than I would have liked, but decent nonetheless.

Tried at Great Taste of Midwest. One of the top 5 beers I had throughout the day. Great aroma, nice balanced flavor and a nice viscous body.

On tap at the downtown location, served in a snifter. Deep black-brown body, thick puffy but dissipating head. Sweet bourbony aroma, paired with milk chocolate porter characteristics. Sweet, tart body, with bourbon, molasses, Hershey’s syrup, and a dry, round roasted malt backbone. Somewhat thin, this feeling enhanced by the unusual tartness of this beer. Drinkable but not among the better bourbon beers.

Damn near perfect beer.! Sorry I had only a 6 oz glass. Nice brown head over an ebony brew. Full nose that included so much more than bourbon. Woodsmoke, oak, anise, chocolate, espresso, brandy. Brandy is what really comes through. Must be the alcohol. This beer was all over my mouth like a horny schoolgirl. What the heck, my first 20! Too bad they were out of it when I went back today for more.

On tap at the downtown location served in a 10oz snifter. Dark black with a creamy brown head and good lacing. Aromas of coffee, chocolate, licorice, dried figs, bourbon, wood and noticable alcohol. No smokers when I was there, nice to be able to smell this beer. Initially sweet with some of the dried fruit flavor, oak and bourbon with a roasty dark chocolate and coffee finish after the first drink. Full body, creamy texture and soft carbination. Perhaps a little too thin, but this is a porter, not a stout. Bourbon really stands out as it warms and I eat my meal, other flavors fade and I can’t pick them out anymore. I really liked this one.