Holgate Brewhouse ‘Empress’ Imperial Mocha Porter

Rating:

37931419_913351282182351_2903070121666805760_n“Big sister to our Temptress chocolate porter. Mature. Well built. An experienced mix of vanilla, dutch cocoa and locally roaster coffee beans. Not to be taken lightly. Go on. Get carried away.”

Glassware: English pint.

Appearance: Glossy black with a deep tan coloured head which swells to a finger in height. It gradually reduces to a ring with a wet lace drag in its wake.

Aroma: Very dynamic and loaded with coffee, cocoa and vanilla. It follows on with more typical porter attributes – dark fruits i.e blackcurrant, blood plums and cherry; chocolate, nutty malts and light roasty characters. A fair bit of sweetness creeping in as well, probably best described as Candi sugar, Dr pepper and toasted marshmallow. Very well layered nose.

Flavour: Akin to the aroma there’s a big rush of coffee, cocoa and vanilla on entry. Heady notes of booze (10%), sweet and sticky dark fruits and molasses in support. Picking up traces of the Candi sugar here and there as it rolls through the mid palate. Roasted malts and hop bitterness develop late and set up the rich, boozy and bitter finish which offers good endurance on the back end.

Mouthfeel: A little oily and prickly, medium-full body with a lively Co2 to lighten it up. Definitely feeling all of that 50 lBU in the swallow.

Overall: A solid brew. As most would already know this is the Temptresses bigger, meaner sister and boy does it show. It takes the best qualities of the Temptress and then amplifies them! A very worthy Imperial porter.