Thomas Hooker Imperial Porter

Brewed by Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Bloomfield, Connecticut USA

Bottle procured via trade with porterhouse. Pours black with an average, frothy, light brown head, diminishing with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (caramel, chocolate, nutty, coffee), average hops (perfume, pine), average yeast (dough) with notes of prunes. Full bodied, alcoholic texture, soft carbonation, and a bitter finish. Average duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness.

500ml Flip-top 2006 Vintage Recieved in trade from RustyDiamond a while back, thanks Rusty. Thomas Hooker’s Imperial Porter pours a beautiful garnet with glowing mahogany highlights that peek through in waves throughout the glass. One finger creamy beige head formed on the pour and slowly faded to a skim coat with a thick collar. Leaves some moderate lacing. Good looking porter. Great smell! Rich aroma of doughy dark bread and lightly roasted grains. The middle breaks away from the doughiness just enough to let dark fruit shine through. Plum and figs (leaning more toward the figs) are sprinkled with brown sugar and provide a great complexity. On the backend the roastiness falls to the back along with the fruits and that dark bread doughiness dominates. My mouth is watering. I think the flavor is actually shows more complexity than the aroma. The flavor is similar to the smell by the dark breadiness is more pronounced upfront. Mid-palate brings the dark fruitiness along with mild coffee. The hint of coffee tastes excellent in this beer. The finish brings a faint but quick cream quality. On the swallow (I’m surprised by this one) comes a solid leafy hoppiness that, along with the roasty malts, leave a noticeable bitterness. Layers of flavor. This is a great porter. The mouthfeel is luxurious and creamy with a velvety feel as it glides effortlessly across my mouth. Low carbonation lets all the flavors work at their own pace and they all work great. On a cool evening, like tonight, I could drink this beer all night long. An unbelievably easy porter to put away. My first sample from Thomas Hooker and one of the best, if not the best, porter I’ve come across yet. An absolute joy to drink. Wish this was available in my area it would be a staple in my fridge in the Winter months. Sampled 10/27/07

Swing top -- very unusual and cool for a US micro. Dark, dark brown with a firm pillowy head, slowly pock-marking itself with craters as the air collapses. The aroma is sweet and roasty like ice coffee. The flavor has a chocolate milk aspect, a hint of vanilla, cocoa bean, and a sweet but lightly bittering finish. Very, very nice. Excellent desert beer. (#3155, 10/23/2007)

Sweet malt aroma with a slight hint of alcohol. Dark brown almost black in color with a large head. Smooth start with a malty bitter finish slightly creamy palate.

2006 vintage. Opaque, dark mahogany body that borders on pure black. A medium, bubbly, light tan head settles slowly to a wispy film with a prominent, non-uniform rim. Minimal sudsy lace drapes itself around the glass. The is really inviting. Sweet, darkly roasted caramel malts and dark chocolate hit up front on the nose, while molasses, vanilla, and stewed raisons follow closely behind. The flavor is very roasty. Scorched caramel and chocolate malts invite a new component to the party....coffee. The sweet molasses that showed on the nose is less prominent as a flavor component. Nougat and hops add interesting contrasts, as do some earthy, woodsy notes. Medium body. Short, roasty coffee finish. Very solid brew.

Vintage 06 - Brownish black, creamy tan head. Deep coffee and milk chocolate cocoa aroma that warmed to further graham cracker and soft dark berry notes. Medium roast coffee and intense cocoa flavors are balanced on touches of black currant bitterness. Medium bodied and slick, medium carbonation, drying, chalky, bittersweet finish. Very nice stuff…

Deep dark body, whisp of a head, it has a christmas pudding flavour with a distinct alcohol flavouring, took my breath away with its powerful flavours, I can picture myself sittinginfront of the fire and reading a book drinking this

Bottle, aged for one year. Very well carbonated, large creamy frothy head, deep brown. Many different aromas, chocolate, malts most noticeable. Medium-heavy body, very smooth on the palette. Bitterness is perfectly mild. Hint of sweetness, coffee, bakers chocolate.