Sierra Nevada Imperial Smoked Porter

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

750 bottle and cork at Sierra Nevada. Renamed Audition (maybe pre-production?). Pours a near black with khaki head. smells great...malted chocolate, a hint of coffee, licorice, and a decent dose of smoke. Smooth medium-full bodied. Taste is roast, chocolate, smoke in the finish, and a bit of anise and coffee. Well rounded and delicious!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Sampled 1702, March 2009
This arrives from the tap with a solid one finger thick, nicely browned, dark tan colored head that is quite nice for a tap beer. The beer is a dark color, approaching black that shows some clear ruby highlights around the edges of my glass. The aroma has a nice smokiness to it that is just what I was looking for. There is a touch of roast character here as well that adds a nice edge to the nose and a bit of coffee aromatics come out after a bit of time.

My first sip sees me noticing the roast flavors up front; notes of roasted grain and coffee like notes add some acidity, but then a solid smoky back-note comes into play here. This has a rich, malt-driven mouthfeel that provides a velvety texture that coats and envelopes the palate. The only downside it that a roasted edge adds a bit of sharp, burnt, acrid, acid character towards the finish that tends to cut into the lushness towards the finish. The roast character is still soft enough though that it does not overwhelm things overall. In fact, as the beer warms it starts to lose that acrid sharpness quite a bit. A really nice, significant chocolate like flavor starts to come out at this time that just adds to the richness of this beer and pairs really quite nicely with the nice smokiness.

While I like a lot of smoke in a beer, I like that this beer only has enough to contribute significantly, but still play a equal / supporting role to the rest of this beers character. This was done quite nicely, and I am especially enjoying this beer after it has warmed up and softened up a bit.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

On tap at Dexter's in Madtown, enjoyed alongside a delicious lunch of lightly breaded Walleye. A deep opaque chestnut brown with a foamy tan head. Subtle roasted malt and cocoa nose. Full satiny mouthfeel that explodes into a long spritely bittersweet smokey warm finish. Excellent flavors of sweet roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate and light fruit with only the slighest presence of smoke, perhaps too understated; still quite delicious.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Pours a rich opaque sable with a fine-bubbled light tan head. Rich aroma is smoky and has an undertone of fine roast coffee. Mouth-filling flavor is smoky and has a strong coffee undertone, as well as hints of toffee and licorice. Texture is pleasingly smooth and lively, leaving a roast coffee finish.