Twisted Pine Northstar Imperial Porter

Brewed by Twisted Pine Brewing
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Boulder, Colorado USA

Bomber. Poured deep brown with a rather short-lived cap of beige head. The aroma picked up drier molasses, licorice, and dark chocolate upfront with a warm overall disposition.. lot of roast going on (perhaps a tad too much). The flavor had roasted molasses and darker chocolate at the core with an odd greener bitterness around.. sticky finish with a bit of woody, resiny alcohol over molasses and dark chocolate. Medium-bodied with a strange roasty, scratchy feel on the palate.. hard to tell where the carbonation was at.. got quite bitter at the finish with herbal notes, caramel, and coffee. This was solid, but missing something to make it great.

Solid dark color... brown head. Roasted smell... first sip: super roasty taste with sweet malt. Chocolate. warm... interesting on the tongue. VERY enjoyable!

Bottle. Body-nearly opaque cola like body with a thin ring of bubble, almost still looking. Nose-woody, fig raisin, stale, woody, cream coffee, tobacco, diet cola, cold pressed coffee, decent strong porter nose. Taste-unsweet creamed coffee, coffee grounds, unsweet portion of crystal malts, Whopper powder without the chocolate, perfect sweetness, dry wood floor, good malt, black cherry. Excellent representation of an Imperial Porter.

A true classic in every sense. Pours dark with a decent head tha leaves a ring of lace around the glass. Strong coffee roasted chocolate aromas spew forward. Full nectar with superb carbonation. Heavily roasted with dark chocolate malts steal the show allowing a few nuances like nuts, coffee, and cake bread to make their cameo’s. The finish is bittered exquisitely leaving gobs of coffee roasted cocoa to deal with. This brew is very rich and only mildly sweet. Very well balanced and definitely savory. Malted milk balls with dark chocolate instead of milk. Highly recommended.

At first pour this Porter looked like it could be mistaken for a Starbuck’s espresso with a foamy milk topping. Very nice lacing. Nose is chocolate, molasses and malt. Taste reiterates the molasses at the top and finishes off with bitter chocolate. This is where the alcohol makes its presence known. Mouthfeel is good - a little thin, though. Aftertaste is coffee, chocolate and good bitter hops, with a nice malt undertone.

Bottle (22oz). Shared with blankboy, jerc and mabel - bottle courtesy of blankboy. Black, oily-looking in the glass, with a small head (4-). Off the top, big boozy aroma, but as it settled I got treacle and molasses with herbal bitterness. The taste followed - syrupy, near-burnt, with sweet thick coffee character and the alcohol that initially dominated the nose is virtually absent. Thick, sticky body, mildly carbonated, slight astringency in the medium bitter increasingly roasty finish, herbal on the tongue in the linger. Pretty solid overall - slick and way too easy to drink for an 8% beer.

My bottle (22oz) shared with HogTownHarry, jerc & mabel -- courtesy of Kevin. Pours black with an average size diminishing light-brown head. Mild aroma of roasted malt, coffee, milk chocolate and grassy hops. Flavour of roasted malt, coffee, hops and a bitter coffee finish. Goes down pretty easy, you wouldn’t know this is an Imperial. Alcohol’s well hidden. Medium bodied, creamy mouthfeel. Pretty good, I quite liked it.

2008-04-18. Black body with a modest creamy brown head. Aroma of mocha , something else I have trouble placing. Strong alcohol at first, milder. Sweet flavour of dark malt, very mild roast, light bitterness grows as you go, and it gains a slight boost from the alcohol. Smooth average to medium palate. Pleasant, not too shabby. Bottle shared by Blankboy.