Midnight Sun T.R.E.A.T. Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Check my rating on the Oaked version for more detail--as they are very, very similar. Soft taste, one-dimensional flavor. Spices and mouthfeel are the highlight, but I wasn’t blown away by this at all.

Bottle: Near black pour with a dense khaki head. Spicy aroma, yet soft- toasted ginger, mild cardamom and evident clove (not a phenol). A bit over carbonated for the a Porter. Nice malt depth meshes well with the subtle spices. Chocolate, cinnamon, clove, vanilla- reminiscent of carrot cake. Some mild roast on the back. Nice, but lacking a creamy texture and not quite as complex as I expected. A bit hyped up for me.

Bottle. Aroma very spicy up front, cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe a bit of roasted malt back there, but strikingly spicy. Flavor gets a bit more interplay between the porter and all the spices, though still spice-dominated. I guess that makes sense since it’s a pumpkin beer, but I’d like more of the base beer to come through since they bothered to make it 7.8%.

Bottle at PilsnerPeter’s Spring Gathering. Hot damn was I excited to see this one turn up. Pours a nice black with a medium tan head. Clean aromas of clove, cinnamon, pumpkin, and some other spices. Nice carbonation, with a little bit of pumpkin coming through. Light spicy clove finish, reminding me of Mexican hot chocolate. Really good.

Thanks to AmericanBrew for sending this my way - 2008 bottle shared at Peter’s NY gathering - foamy black pour - the pumpkin adds a very subtle complexity that gives a nice depth to the roasted malt and chocolate - very subtle, especially for something with "imperial" in the name - the flavor has a lot of dry cocoa up front, and a very mild pumpkin flavor that is enhanced by a mixture of spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.) that arrives late - more subdued than I expected, but delicious none-the-less.

Sampled at the Ohio group tasting on DLD eve ’09. Black pour with a medium tan head. Nose full of cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate. Cinnamon and spice flavor up front, then chocolate with a slightly bitter coffee finish. Deserving of the hype.

22 oz bottle shared at crizay’s house
Credits goes to Mike I believe for bringing this back from Dark Lord Day but I could be mistaken. Ever the enigma Midnight Sun has come through with a solid seasonal porter. While I prefer mine with a bit more sweetness and spice it brings something new to the table.

Aroma / Appearance - The thin tan head and sticky black lacing trickle into a fluid body. Heavily spiced squash, pumpkin, chocolate, and other autumnal aspects are as advertised yet need a bit more refinement in my opinion.

Flavor / Palate - Chocolate whipped cream sprayed generously over pumpkin pie accurately describes this beer. The spicy finish reminds one of squash with a drizzle of butter. Moist, spongy, and earthy, it captures most of the best parts of fall with only a few flaws. As none of them are glaring it gets high marks across everything but the overall score.

Pours pitch black with a small beige head. Aroma is spice and pumpkin. Has chocolate in there as well. Flavor is Chocolate and pumpkin with a ton of spices. Big body and pretty smooth. Pretty good beer.