AleSmith Brewing Company Noble Empire

Noble Empire

 

AleSmith Brewing Company in San Diego, California, United States 🇺🇸

  Porter - Imperial Rotating
Score
7.65
ABV: 11.0% IBU: - Ticks: 25
In our 20th year, we had the good fortune to grow, expand, and relocate to our new home on what was originally named Empire Street. The city soon recognized us by renaming that street to AleSmith Court, a rare honor. Now at our larger facility, we continue to explore our passion for complex beers and expand our barrel-aging program. We have thus created Noble Empire, a brawny, complex, imperial version of a traditional English-style porter as a tribute to craftsmanship of the highest quality. Rich with chocolaty flavors derived from a variety of specialty malts, this beer has patiently found the delicate balance between sweet notes of vanilla and toast from the bourbon barrels. Enjoy this tribute to the former Empire Street and its noble evolution for the sake of craft beer. Cheers!
 

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8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Solsletta 311220. Black color with a tan head. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, chocolate. Flavor is roasted malt, coffee, alcohol. Flavor is roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, caramel, vanilla, bourbon. Very nice and complex beer.

Tried on 31 Jan 2021 at 09:56


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle. Pours opaque mahogany, small tan head, some lacing. Aroma is bourbon, molasses, anise, earth. Flavor is medium sweet, light plus bitter, a bit boozy. Full body

Tried from Bottle on 19 Jan 2021 at 02:06


8.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9.5

Classically styled imperial porter by good old trusted AleSmith, aged on bourbon barrels; 75 cl bottle from Bierhalle Deconinck shared with Goedele. Mousy, thick, mocha-beige, slowly dissipating head over a black beer with very thin burgundy-red edges. Intense, complex bouquet of cold Irish coffee, chocolate sauce, lots of toffee, obvious bourbon indeed, vanilla from the oak wood and the bourbon itself, venison gravy, salmiak, shoe polish, hazelnut ‘jenever’, wet leather, concentrated fig juice, mocha ice cream, bay leaf taken from a beef stew, walnut oil. Sweet onset, fig jam, pear syrup and candied dates, very thick and oily body, smooth and softly carbonated, light meaty umami touch adding complexity rather than being just annoying; layers of syrupy caramelly, toffeeish and sweet-dark-chocolatey malts fill the mouth cavity, remaining rounded even when a coffeeish roasted bitterness sets in – but the toffee character keeps prevailing, keeping it firmly in the porter domain rather than turning into a stout; long, warming, bit desserty but well-balanced, rich finish, lots of bourbon-flavoured alcohol warmth but no obnoxious astringency, light tannic woodiness and lots of bayleaf, walnut, vanilla and sugared coffee aspects lingering. Another old school masterpiece from an old school U.S. craft beer giant – as decent and rich as it gets in this style, and among the best imperial porters I ever had. Seriously impressed by this one – even moved…

Tried from Bottle on 07 Aug 2020 at 11:58


4.9
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 3.5

Pours black with a small head.Nose shows liquorice, port-like notes, vegemite, raisins, booze, oxidised notes and chocolate.Flavours include more roasted malt, liquorice, hot booze, oxidised notes and vegemite.

Tried on 06 Jul 2019 at 02:02


8.6
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5

32oz crowler pours with a deep dark mahogany colored body that supports a tan head. The aroma offers up oak, molasses, smooth sweet smelling bourbon and then boozy marshmallow and maltballs into the end of the draw. The taste delivers smooth molasses, sugary malts and chocolate heading into dark roasted malts and smooth bourbon. Toward the finish the oak and reduced sugars create a pleasing vanilla sensation. This is rich, boozy, sweet and yummy. Great sipper.

Tried from Crowler on 06 Mar 2018 at 22:16


7
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Oxford tastings
Treacle, molasses, some liquorice, but most of all a lot of alcohol, overwhelming everything else; some roasted nuts in the final.
Good beer, very unbalanced.

Tried on 02 Dec 2017 at 21:05


8.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8

750ml bottle (thx, Alex L.!) shared at Alex's. Pours a very dark brown with a beige head. Aroma is huge bourbon and barrel notes. Taste is similar, somewhat hot with roasted malt notes. Nice one.

Tried from Bottle on 02 Dec 2017 at 21:03


7.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle - Boozy Barrel and toffee notes. Jet black with a small beigehead. Coconut and some light bourbon barrel. Heat and some booze in the finish with some more toasted coconut.

Tried from Bottle on 02 Dec 2017 at 21:01


8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Dark brown. Not much head, though other pours got some. On the nose, this has a fairly assertive roasty bourbony character. This brings out some deep dark fruitiness, fruitcake and that sort of thing. The body is soft, sweet, lots of milk chocolate, touch of roast, bit of wood, a shot of alcohol on the tongue as well. Warming and rich...I really like the intense fruity character. A boozy dessert of a beer.

Tried on 02 Dec 2017 at 21:01


7.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

(On tap @ Anvil and Stave, April 5/17) Pours black with a pale tan head. Nose is a mix of bourbon, dark molasses malts that are lightly to moderately burnt, vanilla, a lot of wood. Flavour is very smooth and relatively low on roast. A bunch of vanilla, dark burnt sugar, some toasted oak, lots of bourbon, kind of over burnt and over boozed compared to the Speedway mold - I realize my impressions are probably affected by having this with multiple Speedway variants. Sweet molasses finish with bourbon. Medium bodied. Low carbonation. Too hot for its body. I bet some age could settle this down nicely though, so more nuances from the barrels can be appreciated.

Tried from Draft on 20 Apr 2017 at 04:46