Peppermill Imperial Porter
Deschutes Brewery

i have long wanted to see black pepper used in this context, this is sort of a beer i have been dreaming of long before i realized this was a thing. great to see it in reality finally. its a big bold robust porter at its base, strong on the booze, and its only a little disguised, strong beer top to bottom. there is a lot of dark roasted barley in this, but also a fair bit of chocolate malt giving dark chocolate and cocoa powder flavors to it. the cool part though, obviously, is the addition of black pepper. not sure when or how or how much they added here, but its pretty potent in the nose and taste. almost has that sneeze inducing effect when you smell it, fresh cracked pepper there, amazing with the earthy roast and charred notes here. the flavor is heavily influenced by the pepper too, they have added enough to cut through the huge dark malt base. its not spicy in the heat sense at all, but the black pepper is really strong throughout it, and it works super well with the bitter dark grains, especially in the finish when some of the malt sweetness subsides. really flavorful and interesting, but not so intense as to be a gimmick or a novelty. this beer demands some hunters stew or grilled short ribs or something hearty and wintery and substantial. they could scale back the booze a little bit, but overall this is a majorly successful recipe and innovation from deschutes!