Imperial Sexier Palace
Situation Brewing

12oz snifter at the brewpub. Another 'no growler' offering, which still baffles this observer.

This beer appears a solid black abyss, with no discernible light visible at the edges, and one finger of puffy, loosely foamy, and somewhat creamy tan head, which leaves some stellar late evening cloud form lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of semi-sweet, roasted caramel malt, biscuity toffee, bittersweet cocoa powder, anise candies, cafe-au-lait, and very tame leafy, weedy, and piney green hops. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, assertive milk chocolate, English cream, anise seed, milk chocolate, meek coffee, and more leafy, weedy, and mildly perfumed floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite understated in its wan-seeming frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, with a thin airy creaminess arising shortly after the get-go. It finishes well off-dry, the caramel, cocoa, coffee, and milky notes really working the lingering day.

Overall, this is not all that different than the original brew, which was a-OK by my accounting, even if the chocolate delta here does go a long way in making this much more dessert-oriented in its bearing.