I took a couple of beers with me over to Kriddy's last night, she was going to have some friends over, and I needed to take some beer to numb myself. My choices were Port Brewing Santas Little Helper Imperial Stout 2008, and Barley Island Single White Friar.
The friends went there to ... um... explore paranormal activity in the house. That's right, they are ghost hunters. We kind of think Kriddy's place is haunted. OK, so that goes against, pretty much everything I don't believe in, but still, sometimes we see things. Nothing seemed to happen when they were there.
Before they got there, we watched some of Season 1 of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. My chosen beer for this was the Port Santas Little Helper. Kriddy asked if I already had it, but I informed her, that it was Rogue that produced a Santa's Little Helper, that she'd be familiar with.
This one poured black, it was opaque, didn't let any light through even the narrowest part of the glass. It had a beautiful dark brown foam, that dissipated somewhat quickly. It smelled malty, sweet, syrupy, with chocolate and some bitter (coffee?). It felt thick, not quite Dark Lord thick, but pretty darn thick. Probably the thickest, non-glass coating beer that I've had. The other feel could only be described as warming. The beer had a warmth to it, that belied the fact that it had been in the fridge for a couple of days. (if you say belied, do you also have to say "the fact" after?)
It tasted of the warming of alcohol. There was chocolate, coffee, some vanilla, and oh yeah, alcohol. There was a little bit of bitterness, but that could be associated with a dark chocolate or coffee and not necessarily hops. It was a great Imperial Stout. It was pretty much everything I'd want in an imperial stout. As this beer got up to room temperature, it wasn't even noticeable that the beer had warmed up. This one would make a great Imperial Stout 101, intro to Imperial Stout. If anyone ever asks what a great imperial stout would be, recommend this. They'd have to have no tastebuds to dislike it. If you couldn't find a flavor in there that you liked, then you don't deserve to drink.
Overall, it was a great beer. It came in the Port/Lost Abbey box that Rob had sent to me. One of these days I've got to put together the return trip box and send it on it's way. Again, thanks Rob.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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1 comment:
As always, my pleasure. This whole beer geekdom wouldn't be half as fun if you couldn't share with others. Glad to hear you felt a West Coast beer could compete in the seemingly crowded Midwest arena of Imperial Stoutdom.
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