Imperial Cacao Porter
ShawneeCraft Brewing Company

 

Poured 16oz can into snifter glass. 8.5% abv

Appearance- Pours a deep mahogany with a light tan, thin head that lasts. Dark and opaque.

Smell- Barley, chocolate, vanilla extract

Taste- Light semi sweet malt with a chewy dark chocolate taste. The chocolate is dry and bitter tasting. Roasted flavor from the ample use of malt. Obvious amounts of vanilla flavoring comes through as well. Dry yet sweet semi bitter finish.

Mouthfeel- Medium in body, medium in carbonation.

Overall- A smooth porter that hides it's abv well. Some post swallow burn but other than that it seems lighter that 8 and a half percent. Smooth with good use of the cacao nibs and vanilla.

 

Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass.

A one and a half light tan head is created, with a bit of a fizz sound coming out a bit in the dissolve. Body color is pretty dark walnut brown and a little bit of a mahogany red edge. Dissolves to a pencil thin weak collar, coming off a little soda looking.

Aroma is pretty weak. Small notes of dark grain and very little else. Quite a struggle to pull of an semblance of special flavors considering the addition of cacao nibs. Not off putting, a small hair of cocoa but just hardly.

Palate sort of is leveled by a dead mouthfeel. Thick bodied but lifeless like flattened cola, even some of that mild cola sweetness seems to creep in on the taste. Mild dark chocolate, but there's some really odd banana ester that seems to be kicking in to the flavors in the mid palate. Did this even attenuate as it is also quite sweet as well.

Drinkable, to a fault. Nothing horrible, but probably wont be wanting this again in the future.

 

It has been a good day to get The CANQuest (tm) back on track after a CANbined review hiatus and a bottle detour. I am very curious to finally try this one.

From the CAN: "This high-strength, robust Porter has been brewed with raw, unroasted Ecuadorian cacao nibs. Huge amounts of roasted barley bring lovely soft hints of caramel and vanilla to the front, while pure (unsweetened) chocolate completes the satisfying finish."; "Fidelis In Naturam".

My excitement following the Crack! was tempered by the fact that they may not filter their beers, which is a good thing, but it also leads me to CANduct a very gentle Glug. Not only did that fail to release any head, but neither was an in-glass swirl successful. It just sat in my glass and fizzed like it was pop! Color was Very Dark Brown to Black/Opaque (SRM = > 34, < 44) with NE-quality clarity & garnet highlights. Nose was very chocolatey, reminiscent of something that I could not immediately put my finger on. Mouthfeel was thin, watery, but with plenty of carbonation. The taste was likewise chocolatey, but kind of weak, especially for the style. Porters should have some Ooomph! to them, but this seemed light and overly sweet. Scarily, I could not even sense the alcohol in this beer. Warming, it took on a vanilla character, which made it sweeter and less appealing to yours truly. Finish was semi-sweet. I felt somehow unsatiated. I once had chocolate pop and this reminded me of that, but not in any good way.

 

 

A - Dark brown pour with a micro thin lacing ring.

S - Dark chocolate, cocoa, cocoa powder.

T - Dark chocolate with some roast, mild char on the back end, cocoa, mild lingering chocolate bitterness, some wood.

M - Medium body.

O - A solid porter, I'd buy this one again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark brown with beige edges. Healthy body with a solid roast profile. The chocolate from the cocoa nibs really comes through for a nice but not too sweet treat.