Imperial Mocha Porter
Berkshire Brewing Company

 

Great beer! Caveat- not your typical porter. Drink warm 52+ for rich mocha, cocoa, and coffee notes. Smooth, malty MF.

 

 

16oz can dated 10/28/24.

Pours almost opaque dark brown with an inch-plus head of tan. Plenty of tattered lacing and persistent retention. Cocoa, espresso, dark chocolate in the nose. Medium bodied with a soft mouthfeel. Dry and roasty on the palate. Bakers chocolate, malted milk balls, dark roasted coffee on the palate. Finishes with lingering roast and chocolate.

Can from Bert's
Tawny brown with a decent sized tan head that slowly dissipates.
Creamed coffee and hints of chocolate and caramel. Sweet brown sugary flavor with bitter chocolate and a touch of alcohol warming. Tasty sipper.

 

Pours a dark brown with a short-lived tan head and light lacing.

Smells of toasted malt, coffee and booze.

Tastes of sweet malt, slightly bitter coffee, a little chocolate and vanilla with lightly bitter, alcohol warm finish. It is best not served too cold.

Medium body with light carbonation. Lightly lush and syrupy mouthfeel.

This is a very strong but otherwise mild mannered and flavorful malty dark sipper. Think of as a Breakfast Sout light. Very enjoyable.

This sounded like it might be really good.

Poured a very nice deep brown with a fine rich head that stayed there quite some time.

Everything else was lacking. Very faint notes of cocoa/coffee. I wanted more.

Easy to drink, ABV well hidden.

Good beer, but I wanted more!

16oz can poured into a snifter.

A: Mahogany brown pour. Khaki-colored head builds to a creamy finger and a half in height. Very solid retention.

S: Plenty of toasty grain, toffee, leather. Chicory-like earthiness. Very average and inoffensive medium-roast coffee: straightforward and nutty with a touch of smoke. Mild malt roastiness and acidity. Touch of green and herbal hops. Extremely subtle and thin chocolate sauce scent.

T: Follows the nose. Lots of toasty and mildly roasty grain character up front. Toffee and crust. A touch leathery. Coffee comes in mid-palate with a lot of nuttiness and an even-keeled acidity. Thin and runny chocolate sauce and milk chocolate flavors nestle in too, but are on the subtler side. Green and oily hop bitterness. Spike of alcohol gets distracting as the session goes on. Herbal and chicory-like. Dries into the finish with lingering toast, leather, and a hint of smoke.

M: Full and thick with a moderate sense of heft. Velvety-smooth like a fine chocolate melting in your mouth. Ample carbonation is firm but gentle. It achieves an airy and whipped feel with a delightful silky texture that almost hides the heft of it and even comes across a bit like nitro.

O: I like Drayman's Porter and I like their Coffeehouse Porter too, for what they are. This beer doesn't quite hit its mark though. I don't think it needed to be 10%. The alcohol goes a little bit solvent-y and distracting, and wears on the palate. They could stand to back off the hops a bit too. Again, this didn't need to be imperial and probably would've worked better as a 5% ABV beer. Other than that, I appreciate that it isn't a diabetes-inducing sugar bomb, and they really nailed the body and mouthfeel. It just doesn't balance as well as it could, in the end. It's decent, but nothing to get FOMO over.

Aroma of roasted coffee beans. Pours dense black color with temporary tan head that fades to an embracing ring. Taste - good quality roasted coffee is primary with a hint of chocolate lying in the background. Quite an enjoyable sipper from the folks at Berkshire brewing, and well done. The 10% ABV hides itself quite well making this dangerously drinkable. Really good and worth a try if you see it.