Pressed - Chocolate
Phase Three Brewing Company

 

 

 

Probably unfair for me to write this one tonight. My nose feels a little stuffed up. Looks like your standard style porter, not much going on past a bit of creamy tan lacing. Not getting much on the smell, which may be me. Taste, however, is plenty strong. Chocolate overpowers the coffee and roasted malt, but they’re both there. Very sweet forefront with a mildly bitter undercurrent. Thick, almost syrupy, bold, boozy. Stuffed nose be damned, these guys know how to do a big flavorful Porter.

16oz can poured into a snifter. 12% ABV. Pours an opaque pitch black color With large one finger dark tan colored head. The nose features a copious amount of sweetened chocolate. The mouthfeel is on the thicker side with moderate carbonation. The taste is similar to the aroma with a lot of candy-like chocolate malt sweetness lingering well into the finish. The alcohol is pretty well hidden at first but then sneaks in a bit well into the finish and you can feel some of the warmth of the 12% ABV going down your throat and entering your stomach. Overall, a delicious treat that I enjoyed.

 

Phase Three Pressed Coffee/Chocolate Imperial Porter. Poured out of a 16 oz. can.

Pours thick and viscous. Basically pitch black with a finger of dark mocha head that hangs around for a bit. If I were given this blind, I would say it's a stout just by the look of it.

Aroma is more chocolate than coffee. Phase Three's dark beers always seem to have this Hershey's syrup characteristic and this one really shows that off. Chocolate syrup, milk chocolate, chocolate chip cookie, brownie, vanilla, caramel, coffee, slight roasted malt, powdered sugar, slight alcohol.

Taste deviates from the aroma just a bit. Still plenty of chocolate, but dark chocolate qualities are more present, as well as the coffee. Chocolate syrup, milk chocolate, 75% dark chocolate, brownie, coffee, slight roasted malt, very light dark fruit, some vanilla, caramel, powdered sugar, earthy/woodiness, slight alcohol. Dark chocolate bitterness, coffee roast, and the dryness of the slight alcohol on the back end never let this get cloying. I've had brownies with espresso in the batter and this is reminiscent of that. Also somewhat like tiramisu.

Full body. Creamy, slick, oily, sticky, viscous. This series of coffee porters are the thickest of the style I've ever had.

Overall, this one is just as good as the others I've had in this series. It leans sweet, but is still in great balance. Love the chocolate character in this and it pairs nicely with the great coffee presence. Outstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours an effervescent mahogany with 2 fingers of caramel colored head. Sheets of lacing & above average head retention, nice carbonation throughout

S: Coffee & cocoa, some vanilla late

T: Dark chocolate, a touch of vanilla, woody hops, just a little coffee up front. Coffee builds as this warms, the chocolate takes a little bit of a back seat, a little caramel as well. Finishes dry with plenty of lovely dark chocolate

MF: Medium body, fairly moderate carbonation

What a nice Imp porter plenty of flavor & there is no way I would thought this was North of 8% ABV

Brewers all across the land are subject to all kind of pressures. And when pressed to create a "pastry" beer, Phase Three responds with their own press. At its base, an imperial porter joins forces with a bold jolt of java for a coffee-rich, off-stout taste, yet this time woven together with the silk of chocolate.

Pressed, their Chocolate version, pours with a light and fluffy milkshake consistency before crowning with a creamy whipped froth that floats a near black body. Sultry aromas of coffee and chocolate mingle about the nose with the backdrop of caramel and cream lurking. Then quickly slathering the early palate with utter decadence, the tastebuds are quickly seduced with caramel, toffee, chocolate, sweet cream and vanilla for a milkshake comparison once more.

As the coffee joins the lavish dessert-like flavors, a welcomed bitterness launches from the middle palate to give the beer a balance against the persistent sweetness. Trending sweeter on the sweeter side of bittersweet, hints of walnut, pepper and woodsiness adds roundness to the sweet milk chocolate flavors before a late palate of mocha malted milkshake.

Hints of kaluha and tirimisu ebb and flow throughout the taste while the decadent ale finishes malty rich and soothing with a velvety touch of cake batter. A long and bittersweet aftertaste shows more and more of a coffee liquor and fresh java taste for just enough of a balance to redeem the beer from a diabetic shock.

 

 

Midnight black with a finger of brown foam. Smells of chocolate from chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven, light roast coffee, malts o plenty, and then another layer of chocolate, this one belgian. Taste is a clone of the smell. Feel is sweet and roasted, keeping each other in check, cool and smooth. Will admit the chocolate shapes the smell and taste well, it cuts into the feel a little.