SKA Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter

Brewed by SKA Brewing
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Durango, Colorado USA

22oz wax sealed bottle. Deep brown, with a thin brown head that dissipates quickly. Dark chocolate aroma with a bit of hops in the background. Bittersweet cocoa flavor, with some resiny hops flavors in the finish.

Bottle: Dark body, with a thin head and good retention. Aroma is interesting, sour and tartness noted, spiced chocolate, and sour dough bread all noted. In the mouth, this beer started out with mild chocolate and milky notes that grew as the beer warmed. A sour quality grew till the swallow, with some cherry notes. A bitter smoky quality lingers mixes with a sweet chocolate flavor in the long finish. I was surprised, best beer I’ve had by SKA.

650 ml bottle

Usually bottles capped with wax are the cream of the crop for a brewery. If that is the case, I’m going to make a note to avoid Ska beers in the future. It was not a terrible beer but pretty average on the whole. Especially for a baltic porter there were things missing that should be found in something of the style.

Aroma / Appearance - Upon opening the bottle a huge gusher of foam surged out of the bottle. Four full fingers of head took over the glass before eventually settling down into a deep black semi-watery body. A trace of blood red color played through the glass when it was held up to the light. Cheap grocery store coffee, peaches, stale smoke and vanilla salt water taffy weakly try to tempt the nose. If I had a choice I would have stopped here - it was not offensive but merely bland. The biggest tipoff was the scent of week old milk (slightly off but not yet sour).

Flavor / Palate - Smoke, hazel creamer and stale chocolate create a depressingly boring first impression. The body is a little on the thin side but still manages to pack a little bit of flavor. The malty profile saves things from being a complete disaster. However something is missing from this that would set it apart. In fact, even if this was just a regular porter it would fall in the below average category.

Pours out a nice opaque black with a lovely aroma of coffees, burnt chocolates, roasted malts. Formed little to no foam head. Flavor is almost the same as the aromas to a tee, but comes across as thin in the end. Overall a fine, smooth beer, however, it strikes me more as a strong & sweet stout as opposed to an Imperial. Not a bad beer though, would certainly drink again. Alcohol is not present would adds to its nice smoothness. First time for me from Ska, kinda impressed.

22 oz. bottle Pours a dark brown color with a decent size light tan head. Slight lacing. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, and light berry. Flavor is lightly sweetened chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, and light esters. Medium body. Nothing fancy. I guess I was expecting a little more from aN IP. Still a good beer.

At the 2007 Big Beer, Belgians, & Barleywines Festival in Vail. Pours black with an off-white head. Seems a bit light in all the important categories that I require for the "Imperial" name to fit. I get a reasonable amount of coffee and berries (not bing cherries, though), but overall, there’s nothing here to rave about. update 6/2008: black with nearly no head. has a thin dark beige head. nice rich chocolate aroma. very smooth, slightly sweet. tastes like a chocolate malted. not so much coffee here. very little roastedness. chalky at the end. slightly medicinal, has a medium thickness.

Dark color. Smell of hops, malt, chocolate, blueberries, strawberries, oak, coffee and cake. Taste of berries, hops, coffee, lots of chocolate and oak. Alcohol is masked nicely. A nice Imperial porter,

Oak or some kind of wood along with coffee in the aroma, a sort of sharpness hits the nose,flavor and body are big, lots of chocolate and coffee , some hop bitterness in finish,alcohol hardly noticable, Thanks Kingpin