Sand Creek Imperial Porter

Brewed by Sand Creek Brewing Co. (Pioneer/Wisconsin Brewing Co.)
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Black River Falls, Wisconsin USA

(bottle) A very nondescript bottle, almost overlooked it, but the two words IMPERIAL and PORTER sealed the deal. Pours black with a tan head. Roasted barley, coffee, chocolate with slight soy sauce makes up the aroma. Taste was heavily roasted with some nice hints of chocolate, and a pleasingly long roasted coffee finish, nice thick mouthfeel. One enjoyable porter.

12oz Bottle $7.99 6-Pack Coffee Grounds, Eau Claire Sand Creek’s Imperial Porter pours chestnut brown with glowing ruby highlights. A two finger creamy ecru head formed on the pour that eventually faded to a skimming with tall edges. Leaves moderate lacing after each sip. Good looking porter. Great aroma on this beer. First thing to hit the nose is a creamy lactic quality. Roasty malts are present and make up a solid base. The cream lingers in and out as a berry and brown sugar sweetness comes through toward the middle. Very mild coffee and molasses on the backend makes this one delicious smelling porter. Finish is perfectly in step with the aroma. This is one of the better Baltic style porters I’ve had. Roasty malts with a creamy middle, berry and brown sugar sweetness. Finishes up with mild freshly ground coffee beans and molasses. All the while the sweet balancing out the roasty malt acidity. Slight alcohol on the finish just adds more complexity. Excellent flavor. Medium bodied with a smooth gentle carbonation. Velvety body makes it for a pleasurable drink. Tonight is a cool evening (one of the first of the year) and this is just the beer I want to be drinking to keep warm. Like I stated earlier this is one of the better Baltic style porters I’ve sampled and I hope it becomes something Sand Creek produces every year. High quality porter. 10/11/07

Courtesy of Styles

Bottle: The aroma is a combination of musty chocolate, caramel, roasted grains, and coffee. It pours a dark brown with some red hilights that provide some transparency. The head is minimal beige ring around the edges of the glass. The flavor starts with chocolate and caramel. The finish has an increased chocolate presence, roasted grain, and bitter burnt black coffee. Medium bodied with light carbonation.

Quite the surprise from this beer. It is a thick and full bodied and better than many porter’s out there. Roasted malt aroma. Flavor has roasted malt and is a little sweet. Good, smooth & heavy palate. They should make more like this.

[Bottle] Pours brown with a thin tan head. Roasted malt, sweet up front, light hops. Almost got a jerky like taste from it--odd but works for it. Medium mouthfeel. Long Finish. Didn’t know what to expect when this was purchased, but Guerde picked well, as this was pretty nice.

Pours a nice burnt brownish black. Nice sweet molasses and roasted sweetness on the nose. Nice creamy balanced flavor of sweet roasted malt, and a hint of an almost banana like sweetness. Nice solid beer.

Bottle from secret Santa. Thanks! Pours with small, small bubble head, that fades to a great fine microbubble flim and ring over the surface. Black liquid. Aroma is mild and of molasses, cola, and toasted grains. Much better as it warms up. Flavor is mild too, leaning toward the sweet side with subdued coffee notes. Pretty nice.

bottle from buckybeer: pours a dark brown with a small tan head. aroma of roasted malt, alcohol and some kind of plastic like aroma, some vanilla. flavour is a deep rich roasted chocolate malt, some warming alcohol. starts with hints of sweetness then fades into a nice bitter finish.