Megalodon Imperial Coffee Porter

It's always fun to drink a beer with can or bottle art that my kids are fascinated by.  And i guess if you put a picture of shark on the can, you're gonna have their attention.  It's cool when the beer is great too.  The Megalodon Imperial Coffee Porter from Virginia's Champion Brewing does it right, the 10% ABV brew pouring a dark, blackish brown with a tan head.  Aromas of roasted coffee beans, chocolate, and some hints of cream or vanilla hit the nose quick, and the flavor is heavy on the coffee and chocolate with some notes of cream and dark fruit that finishes just a little bit boozy.  Yum.

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Deschutes Black Butte XXX

I'm going to be writing about my Christmas beers for weeks.  It's a shame they're all gone, when i really could have used one last night after the refs stole the NFC championship and a trip to the Superbowl from my Saints.  But, moving on.  Deschutes consistently knocks it out of the park, which is probably why they've been around for 30 years.  To celebrate that milestone, the brewery released their Black Butte XXX 30th Birthday Reserve, a barrel aged imperial porter that weighs in at 13.6% ABV.  The beer pours a dark brownish black with a tan head and smells of malt, oak, chocolate, and some hints of dark fruit.  The flavor is a boozy mix of chocolate, oak, malt, and again those hints of dark fruit, all in a heavy mouthfeel that hangs on the tongue for a while afterward.  And you can really feel that 13.6% ABV.  An outstanding anniversary brew from an outstanding brewery.

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Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter 2016

One of my favorite limited beers from the last few years has been the Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter from Houston's Karbach Brewing.  Each year, the brewery does a subtle variation on this imperial porter, and each year, i tend to love it.  Living in Austin, they can also be kind of hard to come by.  They sell out around town pretty quickly, and then they're gone.  I was fortunate enough to snag two bombers this year, the variation this time around being the addition of chocolate.  It's delicious.  The full bodied brew pours a dark black with a good tannish head and smells of coffee, chocolate, and the always lovely bourbon.  The flavor is rich, swirls of chocolate, alcohol, coffee, and malt mixing wonderfully in an 11% ABV dream.  It looks like the Jaguar Shark i'm saving for next year has a buddy now.

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Karbach Hellfighter Imperial Porter

Houston is getting in on the craft brew explosion, and it appears that Saint Arnold's is finally getting a little competition.  Last weekend, i was able to try an array of different beers from Karbach Brewing, and one that really stood out is their limited release Hellfighter Imperial Porter.  Dark and heavy with chocolate and caramel flavors, a nice, frothy head, and a good bitterness really brings this beer together.  You can really taste the alcohol too (9.5% ABV), at times feeling almost bourbon like.  Drink this if you can find it.  The cats over at Karbach really hit it out of the park with this one.

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Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter

Still winter time.  Still digging on the darker brews.  But this time, i felt i should go for more of a traditional porter without all the coffee, or pecans, or pumpkin (the kind i just brewed myself), and so i give you the Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter from Ska Brewing Co. in Durango, Colorado.  The brew is a pretty straight forward porter, dark, malty, and with your usual hints of caramel and chocolate.  An excellent beer for a cold day.  Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy a classic.

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