10 Barrel/Bluejacket/Stone Suede Imperial Porter – Tasting Notes

From Stone Brewing Co.  – When Parisi and Stone brewmaster Mitch Steele decided to collaborate, it was essential that they tap a special individual to complete their triad of fermentation domination, and they found just that in Tonya Cornett, the brewmaster at Bend, Oregon’s 10 Barrel Brewing Company. Together, they decided on a sturdy yet velvety base of imperial porter and developed a plan to celebrate the bounty of the environs in which it was produced by harvesting avocado honey, jasmine and calendula flowers (some from our very own Stone Farms) and infusing them into the beer to create something complex and uniquely Southern Californian. Consider it craft cross-pollination at its finest.

Stone Brewing Co. – 10 Barrel/Blue Jacket/Stone Suede Imperial Porter – 22 oz. bottle poured into a goblet. 9.6% abv.

Appearance:  Pours dark brown with a tight tan film.

Aroma: Fresh herbs, sassafras, slight roast and fresh Euro hop. Wet dog.

Taste: Dark chocolate, bitter herbal hops. Alcohol is pretty well hidden.

Mouthfeel:  Full bodied, lively carbonation. Slightly rough.

Overall: This beer, along with Dogfish Head Bitches Brew makes me feel like an idiot. I see all these ingredients listed, and all I can pull out is roast and chocolate properties. In the same way some belly ached about Stone R&R Coconut IPA not meeting coconutty expectations, people might be scratching their head looking for Avocado Honey, Jasmine and Calendula Flowers. It definitely had a nice herbal touch to it, I just think these subtle ingredients got buried in the dark malts. So with all that said, I enjoyed the beer and it should be tried fresh and with 6 months on it.