Thomas Hooker Imperial Porter

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

Beautiful, opaque in color with a slightly red accent on the cusps. Great 3/4" head, tan, milky and fluffy as well. Aroma is molasses, hazelnuts and slightly smoky. Flavor is rich, rich, rich. Bitter espresso nodes and stored ski socks. Palate overload. Some think it might have been infected, but I thought it was still a decent porter.

thanks to steward of gondor for sharing. Pours black w/ a big creamy tan head that laced very well. Smells like a lambic this may have been a bad bottle this thought was seconded by someone who had it before. Palate is thick creamy and well coated. Flavor is a bitter mocha covered in horse blanket and hay.. YUCK.. drain pour.

Poured from a 1L bottle. The group says that this is an infected bottle because of having tried it before. I tend to agree because it’s lambic aroma. The flavor is burnt and chocolate malts with a touch of lambicness in the flavor. I also get a light black licorice.

Displayed in a 1 liter brown swing top, very cool; of the Thomas Hooker brews, this seems to be there thing with the cool bottles for bigger beers. Pours out dark brown and settles even darker with a matte black opaqueness. Thin densely held light tan foam sits atop. Lacing is mostly drippy with some smaller strings staying in a few areas across the glass. What the hell? This smells like a chocolate saison! Kick ass! I could not stop wiffing this stuff in. Absolutely amazing. Not strong, mind you, but finely wafted to a perfect blend of farmhouse funk and chocolate. A detailed description will be hard pressed, but here’s a stab at it. Solid chocolate base of blended milk and dark chocolate and is sustantially held in check and fused together by horse blanket dust funk bringing an interestingly, well balanced pitch of sour tart earth. Notes underneath of charred wood and marshmellow and tiny nuances of molasses tang and black licorice. Fantastic nose! Flavors are just as good but absolutely no hinderences to the funk. Huh? Oddly strange and compelling, and didn’t bother me one bit as this was one very complex and tasty little porter. Mostly a mainstay of mild chocolate tones mixed with some lighter slips of tangy dark fruitish malts where some dark cherry, fig, and plum kinda slip through the chocolate. Nice hints of cinnamon and black licorice spice up some of the middle towards the finish. Tangy and ghostly alcoholic esters appear. Ever present mild and easy chocolate tone always emerging when needed. Fades off simply to reveal an overall charred woody hop bitterness thats very tame and milding with some left over burnt grainyness and coffee bits. Way late return of dates and black licorice creep back onto the back of the palate. Feel is quite smooth and bold, fairly close to full bodied. Warm, eager presense of malty tang under a solid chocolate base. Spicy middle, roastyish, hoppy, but never brash. Well balanced hold of firm flavors and body with just the right amount of alcoholic pep to it. A pleasing porter. Creatively different then any other American Porters. This could be in class all by itself. Uniquely awesome stuff.

Bottle: (2003) Extremely dark brown, ruby highlights, large beige head, attractive lacing.   Fairly strong hop presense, along with the obvious roasted malts.   Very smooth roated malt flavor, fairly big hop bite, with notes of cocoa.   Not as big in body and mouthfeel as I would have thought.   Soft lactic like sourness on the finish.   Hop bitterness, cocoa, and even coffee bean linger well after the finish.   Good strong porter, but just doesn’t seem to be much of a baltic to me.

Thanks to jjpm74 for this bottle. Pours dark brown/black, with a tan head. Aromas are roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee. Flavor is bitter chocolate, coffee, and roasted malt. Mouthfeel is creamy lucioius, and full. A barrel aged version of this would likely be amazing.

Pretty much black. Smooth body. Sweet, luscious milk chocolate and coffee character with marshmallows and a little bit of roastiness. Tasty, well-constructed. Not recognizeable as a Baltic, it is however an "imperial" porter. And a very good one at that. Thanks to Springslicker for the hookup!

Sampled with the last 5 guys who rated this at heavyweight. Nice deep dark brown with mahogany highlights. Aroma is chocolate, a bit of coffee, caramel, and a bit of roast. Flavor is very rich and smooth with lots of sweet malts including munich, chocolate and crystal. Some nutty hints as well. Good smooth robust and complex beer. Nice smooth finish.