Barrel Series Vol. 2 - Chocolate Milk Peanut Butter Whisky Porter
Imperial City Brew House

1 litre swing-top bottle purchased at the brewery; I don't see a packaging date, but this was released within the last couple of months. Served at cellar temperature.

Pours clear copper-brown with ruby red highlights, stirring up less than a finger of loose, sudsy, beige-coloured head that sizzles away within a minute or two. A modest collar is the only real remnant, save for a few flecks of lace on the glass. Tons of peanut butter and roasted peanuts on the nose, accompanied by lesser notes of milk chocolate, fudge, whisky and caramel; mildly spicy, with noticeable ethanol fumes.

Drinks more like a liqueur than a porter. It's actually very mellow initially - I'm tasting milk chocolate, peanut butter and caramel at first, with the whisky and barrel notes developing later on. Lesser suggestions of bruised orchard fruit and vanilla, with roasted, unseasoned peanuts surging at the finish and lingering into an aftertaste of whisky booziness and milk chocolate sweetness. Medium-full in body, with low carbonation that weakly brushes across the palate; a little numbing over the course of the glass, but overall that 13% is masterfully masked.

Final Grade: 3.96, a B+. Chocolate Milk Peanut Butter Whisky Porter is not a subtle brew - indeed, it's easily the most intense Imperial City product I've tried to date. Somewhat lacking in terms of finesse, but the flavours are as advertised - and I'm still impressed by how well that 13% was integrated. Very peanutty, for lack of a better term - and one thing I'll add is that the swing-top was a very wise and user-friendly feature. Now I can save the rest for tomorrow, instead of being faced with a lousy choice: either drink way too much on a Sunday night, or put it back in the fridge and cross my fingers that it still tastes alright tomorrow. Or how about option C - share it with your friends! Yeah, that would've been the smart way to go, especially on Victoria Day weekend.