Thomas Hooker Imperial Porter

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

Courtesy of Pialhead. Pours dark opaque brown with nice tan head, that fades to ring of bubbles. Up front aroma is all hops with some coffee and cocoa in the background. Flavor much the same with a pronounced coffee bite in the finish. Very carbonated for a porter.

Poured black with a creamy brown head. Taste is coffee and smooth hops, not unlike those found in a well-brewed IPA. Taste is coffee and hops, which amazingly balance each other out extremely nicely, leaving a clean finish. Tasty, smooth, and agreeable.

NEBF ’05 Big porter, dark brown in color with a rich creamy tan head. Aroma and flavor of succulent roasted malts,caramel sweetness and a clean finish reminiscent of some great Batlic versions I’ve had before.

Bottle: Courtesy of boto via trade. 2004 Vintage. Aroma of coffee with some spicey saison characteristics, a hint of chocolate, and moderate pine. Pours a real dark brown, no transparency, with a nice tan head and decent retention. Nice lacing. Flavor is roasted coffee and spice up front Very hoppy finish. Mostly pine with some light grapefruit and light black coffee bitterness as well. Hops really linger into the aftertaste. Significantly more hops than expected and virtually no alcohol feel to it.

Extra Mega thanks to SpringLicker for giving it to Matt and to Matt for pouring it in a glass and putting it into my greedy mitts. 2003 Brown with a faint reddish tint and a fluffy tan head. A powerful aroma of roasted malt and dark baker’s chocolate. The first sip lets you know you are drinking a big bitter bitch. Very roasty with ample baker’s chocolate. Very little sweetness to this though you do get cocoa and caramel notes beneatht he bitter coffee notes.. Very satisfying to drink and if beer really did put hair on your chest this one would make you look like Chewbacca.

Mega Thanks to friend and rater SpringsLicker for sending me this Hooker!

Vintage 2003
This was the first beer of the night for Joey and Matt’s first annual Porter / Stout till you drop… which I did after Joey with home but that was facilitated by a martini!
This is a freaking Imperial Stout with lager yeast, IMO, but I guess that is basically what a Baltic Porter is anyway, I think? Pours with an opaque jet-black body and a mammoth pillow of dark khaki head. The aroma and flavor bring about some intensely kilned chocolate malts… charred yet not so smoky. Massive black coffee / espresso / bakers chocolate overtones are in the forefront with a bitter blast of earthy / woodsy hops. I picked up a slight sweetness in the middle; raisin, dates, vanilla, but the espresso and hop flavors blast back in on the dry bittering finish.
A very enjoyable beer… I was thinking there would be more fruit character than there was, maybe a bit sweeter than it was especially with the amount of time that it had aged… nevertheless a damn fine offering overall!

Lovely 1 liter bottle with a convenient reclosable swing top cap, and a little paper strip indicating brewed in 2004. The beer was poured into a goblet, and looked nearly pitch black with slight red highlights and an off-white foamy head. The aroma was chocolate, coffee, and a rowdy hop presence. At first sip, I was a bit taken aback by a bitter hop flavor and a little bit of a plasticky taste possibly indicative of oxidation. But the beer continued to evolve as it breathed in the glass, with the chocolate, rum-raisin, and coffee flavors pulling themselves up, and the hops staying strong and bitter for the ride. Sweetness was also noticeable, and was tinged with a slight sourness.

Mouthfeel was dry and dusty, and alcohol was well in check. This little brewery can do no wrong it seems.

Thanks to cmaruschak for sharing. Lovely opaqye black color with a medium thick and foamy tan head. Thin sheet of lacing. The aroma is a shocker - the first thing I thought of was a Christmas beer. Tons of spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, etc erupt into the nasal passages. There is a bit of a roast character in the nose that comes through at times but it is overwhelmed by the spices. After the initial surprise this is pretty easy to enjoy. Medium body with lots of spice character, along with some roasted malt and bitter chocolate flavors. The finish is dry and somewhat bitter with coffee and hops. Whether this bottle was "off" or not, I liked it.