Winter Sol
Tilted Barn Brewery

 

 

 

L: Pours a rich cola, forming a thick, fluffy espresso head that fades at a moderate clip. Nice cloudy tan retention and a lace of foam around the snifter. Held to the light, this beer has a rich, thick chocolate hue.

S: Cacao nibs, coffee beans, roasted malts, trace of vanilla

T: Fairly bitter, dark roast coffee and cacao nibs, followed by toasted malts, and hints of char. Vanilla is even more subtle here. Hop bite toward the finish.

F: Medium-bodied, moderate carbonation. Creamy and rich.

O: A nice dessert treat.

 

 

On-tap 1/1/2022 at the brewery’s taproom in Exeter, RI, served in a Willi Becher glass.

A: The beer is a deep dark brown color, with a medium light brown head that fades slowly and leaves a decent lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains roasted coffee beans, vanilla, toasted malts, chocolate and a faint touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out with a strong black coffee flavor that is quickly followed by sweet flavors of vanilla and chocolate. There is a hearty roasted malt character and a touch of smokiness. The hops presence is mild but complementary and brings a good balance. The after-taste is sweet and slightly smoky.

M: Crisp and smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is dry and slightly sticky.

O: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, good kick, very good representation of style. This is a very solid beer to drink for a while if you’re in the mood for the style.

 

 

16 oz can into a tulip glass.

Pours a near pitch black color with 2 fingers of frothy caramel colored head. Low retention. Leaves a fair bit of sticky cobweb lacing.

Aroma brings notes of roasted coffee and dark chocolate with some mild nuttiness. The vanilla character is present but subtle.

The flavor follows the nose with loads of roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and a bit of dark fruit character. Again, vanilla is present but subtle. Bitter hops on the finish.

The feel is medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Creamy and relatively smooth. Alcohol is well-hidden.

Overall, a very good imperial winter porter. 3.75 across the board. It's not anything unique, really, but it's flavorful and drinkable nonetheless.

 

Canned on 12/23/19

Pours an oily black body with a finger and a half of bubbling mocha foam; head recedes fairly quickly, yielding a temporary cap, thin collar, and a smattering of soapy, foamy webbing spread around the walls of the glass.

Aromas of lightly smoked coffee grounds and juicy dark berry quickly give way to roasty, milky chocolate, and then into a flowing wave of vanilla bean through the middle; softer tones of alcohol and a malted milk sweetness exchange prominence over the course of the bouquet.

Taste opens with heavily charred malt tones with suggestions of black licorice as a strong hop bite peaks through in the middle, with an almost acrid licorice/coffee astringency dissipating into a dense roasted coffee tone as it warms.

Mouthfeel presents a dense medium-thick body, verging on inky, along with a moderate carbonation; slickness along the palate to start before a building bone-dry malty roast peaks on the back end into what becomes a warming finish lighter than the body would leave one to expect.

A promising interplay of roasty and sweet is cut off by a consistently astringent hop tone and holds the beer back from developing any layers. For what it is, though, this is certainly drinkable, if not as completely satisfying as it could have been.

 

 

 

 

Poured into a becher pint glass, the appearance was a dark brown almost black color with a finger’s worth of white foamy head that dissipated at a decent pace. Mild stringy lace. The aroma had some roasted coffee beans and chocolate malts with a semi-balancing bitter edge of some grassy hops. Just a touch of vanilla and a slight woodiness comes about. The flavor leads with the roasty and sweet aromas strolling into the aftertaste and briskly into the finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a decent sessionability about it. Decent carbonation. ABV seemed to come close to what the brewer projected. Overall, nicely done porter or is this an American brown ale? Whatever it is, it's damn good.