Port Brewing Santas Little Helper Barrel Aged

Brewed by Port Brewing/Lost Abbey
Style: Imperial Stout
San Marcos, California USA

Still, black pour. A few stray brown bubbles pop up on the sides. Aroma of bourbon, chocolate mousse, wood. Flavor is absolutely great. Nice balance of chocolate and bourbon. Mouthfeel is very close to flat. This would be an exceptional beer if it had a better mouthfeel. The almost flat mouthfeel makes it seem watery. Too bad it’s flat.

Thanks to Cheeseman for the taste, though this was a total disappointment. Pour is completely still. No carbonation at all. Aroma is strong of cheap bourbon, chocolate and wood. Mouthfeel is thin and almost watery. If it wasn’t for the overpowering bourbon flavor, I’d almost think it was a watered down stout. The flavor finishes with a weird acidic bitterness that I don’t enjoy at all. This is not good.

Bottle cheese: pours very black and dead flat. Aroma is all bourbon a little wood and some roast, dark chocolate sneaks in also. Flavor is very chocolate and again borboun dominate. Some wood also and plenty of alcohol. This beer hurts.

In short: A superior Barrel Aged Imperial Stout lacking carbonation. Still very good
How: Bottle 22oz. Consumed about 3 months after the beer release. Sent to me by many sources (thanks toncatcher, kegbear and others…)
The look: Black body with almost no head
In long: A lot of bourbon on the nose backed by roast and dark fruits. Taste is a little less bourbouny than the aroma. Most BA impy stouts tend to become slick and syrupy but this one manages to keep a pleasantly high roasted level and makes the beer seem a little dry (a rarity in BA stouts). Burnt caramel, raisin pie, molasses, dark fruits cookies, more… There is many thing happening in this beer. Alcohol is apparent and quite fitting in this complex sipper of a beer. Now the carbonation. How is the carbonation? Everybody is complaining about the carbonation. This beer has been thrashed on ratebeer because of its lack of carbonation. The IS NOT flat. It does have some carbonation. Enough carbonation? No. Really not. Is the beer enjoyable despite the lacking carbonation? You bet it is. With a higher level of carbonation this could have been one of the very best Barrel Aged Imperial Stout out there. Not so long ago Tomme Arthur was some kind of half-god for the American crafbeer lovers. Those were his great days. But he made a few mistakes and now everybody is thrashing him. Leave the man alone, with so many people bursting his bubble he doesn’t have any to put in his beer.

Bottle at home. Pitch black coloured with a small beige head. Sweet and roasted aroma of bourbon, dark chocolate, dried fruits and vanilla. Sweet and roasted flavour of vanilla, dried fruits and liquorice. Sweet and roasted finish. Nice, but too sweet.

Bottle. Black liquid with almost no head. Aroma is sweet, a bit alcoholic and very dominated by the bourbon barrel. Notes of dill and vanilla. Taste is sweet with very much bourbon and notes of dill, alcohol and oak. Quite good, but a very one-sided beer.

Thanks to Dr. Bill for bringing a keg to awaisanen’s baby shower. Huge bourbon aroma, low carbonation and a bit boozy in the flavor.

Almost no carbonation, but the beer itself is pretty nice. Rich, almost cakey, with chocolate, the bourbon barrel is almost perfectly balanced. The main problem is that it’s perhaps a little too sweet.