Review: Imperial Chocolate Porter Two

Imperial Chocolate Porter Two

I brewed this a while ago (10/8/12) but I bottled it a few weeks (7/28/13) ago and I tasted it last week(8/22/13). High alcohol beers take a little bit of time to age but when they turn out I find the wait was worth while. I was a bit pessimistic after the failure of my bourbon vanilla oak aged improvised imperial chocolate porter. The favors were okay once I got it carbonated but it wasn't what I wanted. 

This beer quietly aged in perpetual darkness from October to July. The dark beer remained steady with no sign of infections or other faults just sitting in a carboy. When I tasted it at bottling time I wasn't super excited but I had been given hope by the carbonated sample of my previous attempt. 

Appearance: (A-) Dark black with a brown/tan head about one half of one inch high. Slightly apparent carbonation.

Aroma: (B) a bit muted and underwhelming. Nothing exciting other than vague aromas, roast, chocolate, alcohol. A good palate to stand on but it needed more, or I needed allergy medication.

Flavor: (B+) Good flavor, surprising and subtle. The dangers in this beer are that it's higher in alcohol but is still not too flavor forward. I nice balanced imperial porter with some forward alcohol. I am glad I let this age because I have a feeling that fresh that slight edge of alcohol would have been more like the rock of Gibraltar than a rock in your shoe.

Mouthfeel: (B-) A bit under carbonated. Perhaps it was the head space? Perhaps it was the finishing yeast? Perhaps it was the sugar used to prime the bottles. Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps.

Overall: (B) Solid effort. On my second attempt I see the beauty and subtlety of this recipe. Turn up the specialty grains and you could have a solid imperial stout, turn down the grain/water ratio and you could have a solid porter. 

Improvements: I might consider adding more flaked barley or oats for mouth feel as well as force carbonating it in a keg. This beer is ready for a variation I think so the next batch might be 4 gallons, One gallon to add bourbon or chocolate too. I should brew this again in October, schedule permitting.

Time is tight as usual

Time is tight and I want to brew but I just can't get it in. Sigh. But that doesn't mean I am dead and gone. I have been working on bottling up last years high gravity beers. I have also been trading for beers from around the country to expand my palate and try new things. 

I recently completed a trade for some cascade brews I wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. I'll be getting to these in about 2 weeks when Derek is here but I wanted to tease you first.

Lambic Tasting and American Kriek 2013 Blend

So I finally got around to sampling the Lambics that I've made over the past two years and it was a humbling experience. I thought that I would have some tasty tart beers that were good enough to drink on their own and would blend together to form a magical concoction that I could ride to a home brew competition winner. Wrong. Two of the older lambics were undrinkable. They had an industrial solvent flavor to them. I can't imagine blending these to create anything other than paint thinner. To say that after 2 years of waiting this was devastating is a bit of an understatement. Some of the others were drinkable and I will blend bottle and age them in an attempt to get this going. 

(Please read more after the break to see what tasted okay, what I liked, and how the American Kriek came to be.)

Sausage, Friends, and American Independance

They say one of the things you never want to see is making sausage. I can't understand why. I have made sausage twice now and when you control what you put into it; It is nothing but meat you'd regularly eat. It's easy once you get the hang of it and learn what you are doing, and you can easily add any spices you want and make sausage to your tastes. 

Sure I made mistakes, the first time the meat wasn't nearly frozen enough and so it basically made meat paste it instead of grinding it and the the sausages didn't have the right texture. I also underestimated the spiciness from chili powder and kinda made uncomfortably spicy sausages for some members of my family, I liked it. I have invited Kyle up for American Independence Day to make and eat sausage. Two types of sausages will be eaten: Italian (pictured above), and Gyro.

(please read more after the break.)