Imperial Baltic Porter - Vanilla & Pumpkin Seeds
Yankee & Kraut

Pours a pitch-black coloration with a small, creamy head. Smells of slightly roasted, caramel malt, lactose, vanilla and chocolate, with lighter notes of dark/red fruit and just a hint of musty, tannic oak. Taste is a great balance of slightly roasted, caramel malt, milk chocolate, vanilla and pumpkin seeds, lighter dark/red fruit, with notes of fig, plum, blackberry and cranberry and just a hint of musty, tannic oak, with a very light underlying tartness. Finishes bittersweet, with some dark/red fruit, vanilla and musty/tannic oak lingering in the aftertaste. Full mouthfeel with a medium/rich body and light/medium carbonation.

While I really wasn't too sure about the pumpkin seeds at first, they really do impart a surprisingly distinct earthy and slightly spicy character to this that goes along great with the subtle tannic and musty oak accents from the barrel-aging, which also add some really nice, slightly tart, dark/red fruit to the sweet and roasted malty backbone here, with the vanilla and lactose never feeling too overbearing. While I think that this could have been a lot better with some more distinct barrel character, roasted malt and less lactose, it still makes for a very enjoyable, well-balanced brew with a good complexity and depth of character that never feels overly sweet or boozy, while actually drinking surprisingly easily for the ABV.