Thomas Hooker Imperial Porter

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

Huge huge bottle from 46er3498 - thanks, Tom! Bottled in 2005. Sweet malt aroma: rich chocolate overtones and medium burned malt. Engine oil pitch black with a large and thick, creamy and upward-lacing head, rockily spoonable and tanned edging to light brown. Bitter roast taste with warming malt and just a hint of subtle chocolate - a ton going on with the malt blend. Dark and sultry! Very seductive. Full-bodied but smooth all the way through, really coats well. Very slightly astringent aftertaste, lightly bitter and medially dry, with the chocolate and faint roast lasting for some time. Reasonably well integrated alcohol, getting warmth but that’s about it. A much dryer, slightly hoppier and bitterer version of Bell’s Double Cream; really a smooth, classy porter of the highest order

Poured from a bomber. Chocolate brown, marginally transparent with some mahogany glow around the edge. Toasted marshmallow on the nose. Apple and a lovely, thick fudge sweetness. Silky vanilla. Lively tastes of black currant, Costa Rican light roast, blackberry. Sweet, hickory smoked meat and a burnt sugar edge. Creamy and rich in the mouth with fantastic precision. Pulses warmly with chocolate. Lovely example. Thanks for sharing, Scott!

Slight remnants of a head remain on the beer as it warms. Color is near-opaque and pours slightly thin. Taste is slightly burnt and acidic malt, caramel, and bitter cocoa. Respectable effort, but very average results.

Date: 12/11/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

dark ruby, rich dry chocolate malt aroma and flavor, bitter malt finish
-------- /> Date: 02/06/2006
Mode: bottle

dark brown with ruby highlights, nice lace, big frothy tan head, burnt roasted aroma, creamy body, rich malt flavor, nice chocolate character, astrengent bitter malt finish, the rich chocolate flavor is overshadowed by the burnt bitterness which eventually fades but not completely and not until it’s too late

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

500 ml bottle courtesy of jimbowood. Thanks Jimbo. Pours extremely dark brown with a dense small beige head that disappears quickly. The aroma is caramel, chocolate, roasted coffee, and a bit of molasses. The flavor is much of the same with a sweetness early turning more bitter in the finish. Full bodied; thick and smooth drinking. Enjoyable.

Top seal reads bottled in 2006. Poured out a deep, opaque chestnut colour with a small tan cap that forms after the pour and dissapears shortly after. The nose is of strong roasted coffee and chocolate malt, hop citrus, molases and licorice. The flavour is intially like burnt black coffee and sweet roasted malt, but the finish is different and far more intense. It leaves a lingering baking cocoa and and bitter hop on the palate, drying the sides of the mouth. The palate is full, creamy and lasting as it sticks to the tongue. I don’t know why my bottle poured almost no head and left no lacing. Maybe it wasn’t stored right at 1776 Liquors in Bristol, RI.

Pours a motor oil black with a thick chocolate brown head that disolves into some semi sticky nice lacing. Aroma is a tad thin at the beginning but as the beer warms more scents come out, and interesting aroma of assorted black licorice candy, with lighter notes of malty molasses. Aroma reflects the flavour with a strong molasses backbone with more standard porter flavours of coffee and dark unsweetend chocolate and black licorice finish. The palate is complex with a thick lasting finish and good mouth feel. All around a tasty solid porter.

Pours a five+ finger light tan head that fades slowly to a thin layer leaving traces of lace. Totally black color. Good carbonation and heavy bodied. Roasted coffee nose. Flavor is roasted coffee/chocolate with a burnt coffee finish and lingering bakers chocolate aftertaste. Pricey at $9.25 for a 500ml flip top bottle from Tully’s Beer and Wine Wells, ME.