Stone Brewing Co - Suede Imperial Porter

Evening all! Hope everyone is enjoying their week. Wednesday night and the wife has taken over the TV. I need to occupy myself so I figure it's as good a time as any to post a new review. Makes sense, right?

Tonight I'm drinking the latest collaboration beer from Stone Brewing Co. This is their Suede an Imperial Porter brewed in collaboration with 10 Barrel brewing and Blue Jacket brewing featuring Calendula Flowers, Jasmine and Honey. I'm sorry, what? An Imperial Porter with what I can only describe as tea spices? Interesting to say the least... and maybe slightly odd sounding. This is 9.6% abv so at least it's not lacking in that the department. Coming from Stone, that's not a surprise in the least. So let's get Suede poured and I'll give you my thoughts.

Suede pours out incredibly dark pretty much pitch black. If I hold my phone light up to it I'm maybe seeing a little bit of a dark brown... but it's so dark I'd call it black. Yeah, this beer is black. There's about a finger of a foamy, frothy beige head which I got after a pretty vigorous pour, more vigorous than I usually pour. It dissipates pretty quickly and leaves behind a very thick lacing. Incredibly sticky looking and slightly soapy. This looks like pretty straight forward Imperial Porter. Let's get the nose.

Big roast coming through right away. Some cocoa nibs, dark chocolate following right behind. But right after that I get a big blast of earthy floral characters. Those flowers are surprisingly present and holding their own on the nose. There's the slightest bit of spice as well. Maybe from the Jasmine. I'm also getting a sweetness that's most likely from the honey. It's doing a nice job of cutting that roasty note I picked up at first impression. This is a very good smelling porter and these additions of calendula, jasmine and honey have me intrigued. Only one thing left to do!

Right away I get that floral sort of earthy bitterness. It has to be from the flowers and whatever hops they used in this. Coupled with the Jasmine the beer is definitely not what I expected. The spices and floral notes really linger on the front and middle of the palate. Sides of the palate I'm getting some sweetness but very subtle. Back end of this I get a blast of those dark chocolates and bitter chocolate I got on the nose. They don't linger very long. The lingering taste I get more than anything is jasmine. Very tea like. Very subtle and smooth. Honestly if I closed my eyes I'd think I might be drinking tea! The longer I let the flavors linger I pick up more honey sweetness and a lot more tea character. So interesting!

So overall, I like this a lot. It's not what I was expecting at all from this latest collaboration from Stone. I was expecting a big, sort of in your face porter and I'm really left looking for that. This is really jasmine, calendula, honey forward. More so than I would have ever guessed. I can honestly say I've never had a beer like this. There's no hint of that 9.6% that the bottle boasts which makes this a pretty dangerous drinking beer. Body wise this reminds me a lot of an English porter. Not like a lot of the imperial porters brewed here in the states. Get this if you can. It's worth it.

Rating: A

Deschutes Brewery - Black Butte XXV

Hey gang! Time for another beer review. It's been a long week and I'm going to have a really, really long day tomorrow at work. So, wanting to forget that, I've decided to crack something open a little "early" if you would.

Tonight I'm drinking the 25th Birthday Reserve from Deschutes. That's right, I'm drinking the Black Butte XXV. Now I say "early" because this has a best after date of 6/10/14. Yeah, this beer is so legit they're telling you not to touch it for a year. Well, I laugh at their directions. But seriously, I've heard this is great now. So I picked up two bottles. One to sit on for a year and this one. So let's get this one opened. I'm seriously stoked to drink this.

The XXV is an 11.3% Imperial Porter brewed with dates, figs and cocoa nibs. Then if that wasn't enough, they put 50% into bourbon barrels and 12.5% received a little black currant treatment. Yep. Just a great sounding beer. Enough intro. Let's rock!

XXV poured out a nearly pitch black. I'm kidding, this beer is dark as night. Maybe the slightest bit of mahogany at the bottom of the glass but frankly, I think that's just my mind/eyes playing tricks on me. I poured pretty aggressively because honestly, I wanted to show this beer who was boss. The XXV responded by kicking me in the face with 2 fingers of khaki head, very fluffy with a lot of tight bubbles. A decent retention time leaves behind a really nice soapy lacing. This beer isn't fucking around. Let's get the nose.

Wow! First thing I get hit with is a massive amount of chocolate covered raisin and fig. Very rich smelling. The fig smells like it's been hit with a touch of booze. Oh, surprise! It's the bourbon coming through. Lots of vanilla and caramel sweetness. There's a little bit of alcohol on the nose which is doing it's best (and failing) to mask the tart black currants. That's right, you can smell the currants on the nose. It's subtle but plays really nicely off the chocolate, vanilla, caramel sweetness. There's a bit of a dark chocolate, almost bakers chocolate on the nose, probably from the nibs. Reminds me a bit of a piece of chocolate cake. Just a really, really great smelling beer. I'm ready to throw down. Let's do some drinking!

Yep. Follows the nose to a T. Big chocolate covered raisins. A lot of caramel sweetness, vanilla, booze, a nice sort of bourbon sweetness. A little bit of alcohol on the back end. You get a nice little pop of black currants on the sides of the palate and a bit on the back end. That cocoa nib character is a little more subdued than it is on the nose. You get a nice cocoa after taste but it's not really as noticeable anywhere else. But seriously, who gives a shit? Everything else going on with this beer is just a masterpiece. As it warms up I get a ton of date/fig character. Very chewy and sweet. The caramel and vanilla sweetness in this thing is really nice.

So overall, Black Butte XXV is simply amazing. Everything plays so well off each other in this. Even though there's a touch of alcohol it's not taking away from the beer. This beer is made to be consumed a little less than a year from now. I'd be interested to see how the black currants do with some age. They are noticeable throughout this beer. Will they provide more of a sour bite to the beer? Maybe. They could completely fade out. Either way, get two bottles of this. Drink one now. Drink one a year from now. So worth the price tag of $16. You won't be disappointed and honestly if you are, you might have some issues. Another awesome beer from Deschutes!

Rating: A+