Heavyweight Perkunos Hammer Imperial Porter

Formerly brewed at Heavyweight Brewing Company
Style: Baltic Porter
Ocean Township, New Jersey USA

My first from Heavyweight. New Jersey represent. I’m glad I chose this as my first from them. It’s so good. My first baltic porter, and I’m impressed with the style. Reminiscent of an Imperial Stout, which I guess is expected given the name Imperial Porter. Just dark and dense and dank and amazing.

Black with a small tan head. Aroma of roasted malt and coffee. Nice roasted malt flavor with just a hint of hop bitterness. Alcohol is apparent, but not overwhelming. Full bodied. A very nice job on this one. Rerate 4/1/05 The last two times I’ve had this beer, the bottles were off. Both had a sour, buttery flavor that was a real turnoff. Gave this beer a 4.0 originally but will have to take points off after the last two.

Rerate. Pours a very dark brown (a touch of ruby red) with a medium light brown head. Aroma is of dark fruit and roasted malt with some sourness. The taste is follows through with the aroma adding notes of chocolate, coffee and raisins with a slight alcohol burn. Taste is pretty sweet at first, then a tad sour and ends bitter and salty- pretty complex. Mouthfeel is very full, round, creamy and airy, yes I said airy, kind of like a nice mousse. Beautifully put together. True to its name, this is truly an imperial porter. Highly recommneded.

Pours a pitch black color, and it must be well carbonated, because it creates and incredibly thick deep brown head. As I pour I get notes of roasted barley and rum. As I go in for a deeper sniff I get an incredibly rich, luscious, malty aroma that is a mix of chocolate, espresso, perhaps some Worcester sauce, and burnt grain husks. The body of this beer is nice and full, and the finish is nicely acidic from the dark malts used in this beer. It is definitely well carbonated, perhaps a bit too much, but luckily this is easily corrected by a quick swirling of my goblet.

After being degassed a bit the taste mellows sublimely to a smooth creamy chocolated espresso treat. There is a bit of burnt grain astringency in the finish, but even this only lightly detracts from this beer. This beer is just hugely malty, with lots of rich concentrated malt flavors. The alcohol, beyond that initial whiff of rum, is not discernable at all, though I am starting to feels its effects. This is really quite enjoyable, and I am quite glad that this beer found its way into my glass tonight.

Right away, it remins me of a sweet stout with a hint of Scottish ale. Flavor is roasted chocolate, slight bit of cherries and Coke. Also has an herbal numbing effect. Actually, it kind of reminds me of the Stone 8th with more roasted, chocolate characteristics and less alcahol bite. The palate is kind of strange. It lingers in a very smooth way. I keep expecting to feel some bite, but it never happens. It’s hard to explain.

Draft at the Drafting Room, Exton. Pours blackish with medium tan head. Aroma of malt, chocoff, cabernet, prunes, and cognac. Tastes malty, with big chocoff and black licorice. The alcohol reveals itself as the beer warms, and the palate is medium to firm, with a slightly oily finish. Nice complexity and balance. Great beer.

a bit sharp and roasty. chocolate and herbs. not too smooth, but i liked it. there’s alcohol present. i’m not sure if i’d have another, but i liked it.

Dark brown with nice brown head. Smells of chocolate and more burnt smells. Had even better taste which was similar, burnt, roasted etc. Felt nice on the way down during the whole sip, great beer.