Big Willie
Broken Tooth Brewing

Poured into a snifter, the appearance was a dark black color with a good finger’s worth of white foamy head that dissipated at a nice pace. Speckled clingy lace. The aroma had some milk chocolate, toast, coffee, dark fruit, vanilla and smoke. The flavor blended the sweet to the smoke and added a touch of roast. Sly dry woody to slightly smokey and roasty sort of aftertaste leading into the finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fair sessionability about it. Decent carbonation. ABV felt as projected by the brewer. Overall, really nice imperial porter. Wish I had more.

03/24/2017

The Imperial version of Smokin' Willie's Porter, picked up at the pub summer 2014, and cellared since.

Poured into a shaker pint, appearance is dark garnet with a large tan head, pretty tight with thick lace rings.

Smell is pretty sweet and fruity, esters remind me of a BSDA. Faint smoke as well, although that opened up quite a bit as the head died and the beer warmed. Really nice and enjoyable combo of smoke and cherries.

Taste is soft, well integrated flavors indicative of graceful aging. The smoke is a bit more pronounced, softening the malty sweetness, which has a little caramel. Fairly phenolic though, particularly on the aftertaste, with a firm bitterness.

Mouthfeel is also very soft, with a lighter body, and moderate dryness.

Drinkability is high, this is a really tasty beer. Imperial smoked porters are easily overdone, but this one is far from it. It has also aged very well. I'm sure it could have run for a decade (based on classic's like Alaskan Smoked Porter), but it's so good now I wouldn't be compelled to wait that long unless you had a few.