Long Trail Brewmaster Series Imperial Porter

22oz from Half Time, Poughkeepsie. Dusky dark brown pour with a thin beige head, nicely sticky lacing. Nose is initially soft roasted malts, but an intriguing lactic and molasses character emerges. This is more or less characteristic of the beer’s taste, too, as light smoke qualities and a big creamy body blend together to make this brew a distinctive cross-section of various interpretations of imperial porter. Pretty good.

22oz bottle. Medium tan head atop dark brown body. Aroma is moderately sweet, coffee, earthy, some grapefruit, light chocolate. Taste is moderately sweet, coffee, some earthy, chocolate, light alcohol. Smooth medium body.

22oz bomber courtesy of VanillaMike poured into a tulip. Pours completely black with almost no light penetrating underneath a huge fluffy tan head that recedes very slowly and leaves a thick clump of foam on top and tons of lacing. A gorgeous looking beer overall. The aroma is a nice balance of sweet and dark chocolate as well as roasted black malts and some coffee. But the most surprisingly thing to me is the huge hop presence that I absolutely wasn’t expecting in an imperial porter. There are some sweet oranges and pineapples and some softer pine. The taste has a really interesting bitterness up front that is partly bitter citrus hops and partly roasted coffee. This gives way to the dark malt backbone with some chocolate notes and a finish that is flush with floral hops and leaves a serious hop bitterness, unlike anything I’ve experienced in a porter taste. The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied for a big porter but the unique hop presence makes up for that a little bit. I was surprised by both the uniqueness and the quality of this beer. It’s probably not the best porter I’ve tasted but it’s definitely the hoppiest and that really adds to the complexity and overall appeal for me. Very, very good.

Bomber courtesy of LilBeerDoctor. Pours dark reddish brown with a 2 finger tan head that results in decent lacing. The nose is baker’s chocolate, roasted malt, dark fruit and light coffee. The taste is ashy cocoa, citrus hops, charred malt, chocolate and black coffee with some bitter hops in the finish. Medium mouthfeel. Nice beer – thanks Margaret!

Tap at Bobbique. Pours a nice deep dark woody brown almost black tight white head and killer lacing. Aroma is first- nutty, roasty, chocolate, and good coffee then switches to earthy and rootbeer like mt ranier hops, then goes to fuller piney resin more PNW style hoppiness when warms- and gets a bit fruity. Flavor is toffee, roast, chocolate malts, licorice root, anise, rootbeer, herbal, and then piney and moderate citrus hops. Smooth and lasting finish- keeps me wanting to go back for another sip. Definitely on the hoppy side for a porter but it works- good stuff.

Poured a dark brown color with a good sized tan head. Aromas of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee. Excellent flavors of chocolate and roasted malt with a slight alcohol warmth. A very tasty porter.

Thanks hophead75 for shooting this one my way. Pours a dark brown allowing light and donning a two finger creamy light tan head. The nose is sweet, lightly smoky, definitely some chocolate, a little bitter coffee, nice hop aroma. Flavor is chocolaty, showcases a prominent bitterness, sweet, mildly astringent, roasted coffee. Palate is bitter and roasty.

07/28/09 Bomber from VBM $4.99. Pours an opaque very dark brown/black with a medium sized khaki head. Decent lacing. Hoppy initial aroma with chocolate, coffee and sweet roasted malts, slight alcohol. Semi-sweet chocolate, caramel, hoppy flavor. Not too bitter. Medium bodied, smooth beer. Alcohol finish. Damn good.