Siletz Black Diamond Imperial Porter

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Note the "veritable orgy" of flavor (read the bottle). Nice job again from Siletz....This poured very dark brown with a head. A soapy aroma and fruity with big grape like notes and currants. Not sure the abv, but im guessing 7.8%..... Hearty sweet fruit taste like prunes. Dark bold roasted chocolate flavor, medium bitter and a nice extended aftertaste with some hops in the mix.... Crisp, medium bodied, smooth slick mouthfeel and fine bubbles. Very fruity for porter

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This Baltic Porter pours a deep black color from a 22oz bottle. Medium sized beige foamy head. Aroma is semi-sweet chocolate and vanilla, with some smoke, piney and floral hops. A medium bodied porter. Malts are roasty malts, chocolate and coffee. Hops are citrusy and piney. A touch lactic, but in a good way. The sourness may be do to this being an older bottle and not any real fault in the beer. Anyway it sort of works, with the balance. Clean and smooth. Fruity and chocolately. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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

Siletz is a little-known brewery from a town just outside of Newport, OR. Given that Newport is where Rogue is located and the fact that, from what I understand, the brewer at Siletz cut his teeth working at Rogue, it's not hard to guess that their beers are going to be substantial to say the least. Silk screened bomber bottle. Here's the blurb: "...is a rich malty porter with more of everything. A Generous blend of malted barley creates a veritable orgy of roasted and chocolate malt flavor, blanaced with the finest NW hops. A beer fit to serv an Emperor. Tan smooth and chocolatey for a stout, too big for a mere porter ... Serve with your favorite bold entrees or just relax and enjoy it alone." Oh, brewed and bottled by Renegade Brewing Company. Onward. Pours a jet black with a beautiful *large* head that stays around as long as the beer does leaving a very intracate lace down the glass. Smells quite strong. You can actually smell the alcohol, I think. Lots of sweet malt and, of course, floral hops. The taste is not for the weak of heart. This is more stout than most stouts. It's at least as strong as most of what Stone puts out, if that tells you anything. Very malty and *quite* hoppy. Cascades are definatly swimming around as I notice the grapefruit taste. I'd love to know the IBU of this thing if the scale goes up that high. But it's amazingly well balanced in that it's not making my jaw ache from the "bitter beer face." Or maybe I've been living in the PNW for too long that I've become immune... < smirk > Mouthfeel is quite full and cleansing, although the drinkability drops just a bit from the aftertaste I'm getting from the cascade hops. I'm craving a really strong cigar right now to go with the second half of the bottle. This ain't no session beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Thanks go out to bro cmaruschak for the chance to sample this rare West Coast goodie. Appearance: Pure black with a creamy tan head that fades to an off-white ring around the glass. No visible carbonation noted. Smell: Chocolate, carmel, toffee, and dry cocoa powder cascade out of the glass. It has a sweeter profile than I would have anticipated but it's very inviting. Taste: Mayple syrup, carob, carmel notes, cocoa powder all jump off the palate. There are definitely sweeter and earthier tones (thanks Mark!) going on here. It's an interesting twist but after a while the sweetness tends to detract from the overall enjoyment. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and a tad over-carbonated. Drinkability: Suffers some because of the sweetness for me. Still, a very good porter and one that I would re-visit again. I would still recommend splitting the bomber with friends.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Poured a reddish brown, mahogany color with a small, tan head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of chocolate, nuts, and light roast. Taste of chocolate, raisins, very roasty, and a trace of alcohol.

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

The aroma is very chocolaty..roasted malts..very enticing indeed. the beer is a dark porter brown with a small yet clinging tan head..good lacing. lovelly flavour..mostly chocoalte ..dark unsweetned chocolate..coffee aftertaste , some bitterness..some hops detectable..slightly smokey. Feels very smooth and easy going on the palate. Overall a very good porter..another good beer from this Oregon Coast range brewery