Botella. @Cimmeria, Oviedo 16/09/2015 BBD:08/15 Color negro, espuma beige, aroma ahumado y picante, final seco y picante.

Botella 33 cl tomada en el momento en cimmeria 06-09-2015. (r85) Color negro con espuma algo oscura. Imperial porter con toques ligeros ahumados maltosos y ligeramente tostados acabando con sensación picante ligera. Cuerpo medio con 9.7 vol y buena sensación alcohólica. Para repetir sin duda.

Sample of 330ml bottle from Grove, Huddersfield - Calm looking deep dark brown body, little head, not much in the way of life. Nose is coffee, tar, liquorice, booze, and a little spiciness. Not much evidence of the chilli on the way in, a bit of pepper, black coffee, liquorice and on the way out an alcohol warmth backed up with a coarse heat of the chillies. Medium body, nothing much to add. Very nice, but not a bum scorcher.

"Imperial spiced & smoked porter", curious about this. Very dark mahogany colour, as good as black, loose and irregular, beige head breaking open after a short while but retaining well around the edges. Strange phenolic aroma: my first impression is one of bitumen, car tyres, elastic band and band aid, something I never encountered in a beer before in this particular form and utterly unpleasant; otherwise I get hints of chili peppers, dried plums, brown rhum, smoked bacon, cigarette ashes, very bitter chocolate, nettles, walnuts - but I can’t get past this dirty rubber or band aid odour, though it gets weaker as it warms up, making room for a more agreeable smell of banana ester, vanilla and port wine. Taste begins with a subdued dried fruits sweetishness, smooth and oily with medium, fine carbonation; a spicy feeling on the tip of the tongue already spells certain doom over what is to come. Caramelly, nutty and chocolatey malts make up the middle phase, but nothing could prepare me for the finish: on top of the lingering bitter chocolate maltiness, which could have been very pleasant, and the leafy hop bitterness, which provides a good balance, a sharp, astringent, fiery spiciness appears, as if somebody poured Tabasco in it, with the intention to ruin an otherwise fine beer. The chili pepper burn lasts for quite a long time - the true meaning of the name ’Flaming Ass’ suddenly dawns, making this experience even less pleasant. Fortunately I do love spicy food, so this did not bother me too much; I was more appalled by the clinical, chemical smell of this beer, which totally ruined it for me. Well, at least they had the guts to try this recipe... Points for originality, but that’s about it. The idea by itself is not that bad (see Zipacna, cheers to Klaas for that one) and Uiltje has done many great things, but this one has characteristics which put me off a bit in spite of my fascination for the experiment as such.

Bottle, shared by FatPhil, thanks! Pours dark brown-black with light brown head. The head stays. Aroma is roast, smoke, ham, malt. Flavor is sweet, chili, smoke, malt. Overall: ok.

Keg at Borefts beer fest day 2 27/09/2014. Bodegraven. Opaque black coloured pour with a nice tan head. Aroma is nutty praline, little veg, choc and light citrus. Flavour is composed of choc, mild warming alcohol, chilli, veg, milky,smokey woody, berry. Good

Bottle at home, 29th January 15. Pours nice. The aroma is toffee, liquorice some pepper. Taste is chilli forward, some sweetness, slight liquorice, a little chocolate. Lingering chilli burn on the tongue, judged about right. Good chilli porter