Thomas Hooker Imperial Porter

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

Thanks gunhaver for the share. Pours dark cola brown with a tan head. Nose is dark chocolate, dark malt, and some vanilla and sweet almost bourbony notes, also maybe some dark fruity action. Flavor is about the same with sweetness, dark roast, dark chocolate, and some dark fruit present. lingering sweet roastiness rounds out the finish. Enjoyable porter.

Bottle via trade with dchmela. Pours a rich deep red brown. Full of bubbles with a thin medium brown head. Nose is coffee, oak, chocolate, caramel yum. Oaked coffee, dry black licorice, fresh caramel, brown sugar, a little black pepper. Smooth and full mouth. Excellent beer!!

Half liter swing top pours very dark with creamy yet mildly bubbly impressive mocha head and modest cobweb lacing. The aroma is sweet with malts, malt balls, molasses and a touch of vanilla. There’s a thin layer of dark fruitiness as well. The taste begins with a creamy mouth feel to start bringing in a mix of sweet caramel and coffee then moving toward a modest level of ripe plums, cherries and dark grapes. The roast and caramel re-surge into the finish. Tasty brew that has a mild pine hop bite lingering into the after taste.

Sampled at Springslicker’s Fish Fry ’09. Clear brown pour with reddish highlights. Alcohol burn, burnt coffee, with some cardboard and a sour twinge in the flavor. Moderate carbonation. I’m not sure if this bottle was past it’s prime or what, but I didn’t think it was all that stellar.

500mL swingtop, 2006 vintage, poured into a snifter. Pours dark, dark brown with a small and very short-lived off-white head that stays on as a tiny ring for the duration. The aroma is dominated by dark chocolate malts, lots of sweet malts in the nose. Maybe some caramel and licorice as well. The taste is a little less complex than the aroma. It’s got the dark malts that form the backbone underneath some chocolate sweetness. There are actually hints of oxidation in the taste with a bit of a cardboardy finish. The mouthfeel is slick with very little carbonation and a tad thin for the style. I’ve always had mixed results with aging fliptops and I think this is another example. I enjoyed it, but I really think the mouthfeel and taste would have been much better fresh.

500 ml bottle, 2006 edition. Pours a dark chocolate brown with a small receding beige head. Big chocolate nose with coffee aroma as well. Smooth, moderately heavy palate with low carbonation. Silky on the tongue. Flavor was milk chocolate, light coffee with some dark fruit flavor as well. Alcohol is well hidden. Very enjoyable.

SpringsLicker’s Fish Fry. Sample from a bottle shared by me thanks to Cletus. Dark dark brown with an off white cover. Nice lacing. Vinuous and fruity. Taste is roasty, some cherry, dark fruits, light grassy hops, but a bit vegetal.

2004 1L bottle. Opened with a bang (or incessant gushing all over David’s kitchen as it were).. poured deep brown with a nice cap of beige head afterward. The aroma picked up lactic sourness over darker chocolate and coffee maltage.. touches of brown sugar and anise provided fine complements. The flavor showed more sour/infection character throughout, but all of the underlying goodness remained.. coffee and dark chocolate propped up mild toasty bitterness.. well-roasted and warm on the back, with a dry-roasted (and lightly sour) finish. Medium-bodied and thankfully the roasty notes overrode the sour ones for the most part.. balance was solid. Perhaps I should’ve consumed this sooner, because it must’ve been one helluva batch when it came out.