Santa's Little Helper
Port Brewing Company in San Marcos, California, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Winter Out of Production|
Score
7.73
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Santa knows who’s been naughty and who’s been nice. This is one seriously naughty but nice beer.
Santa’s Little Helper, our Imperial Stout, starts with an emphasis on dark cocoa and roasted coffee aromatics. The finish lends hints of sweet crystal malt, warming tones of alcohol and a touch of hops, making a perfect accompaniment to leftover fruit cake and sugar cookies.
Hops
MAGNUM AND CENTENNIAL
Original Gravity
1.092
ABV
10%
Santa’s Little Helper, our Imperial Stout, starts with an emphasis on dark cocoa and roasted coffee aromatics. The finish lends hints of sweet crystal malt, warming tones of alcohol and a touch of hops, making a perfect accompaniment to leftover fruit cake and sugar cookies.
Hops
MAGNUM AND CENTENNIAL
Original Gravity
1.092
ABV
10%
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7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Appearance: Black color with a big beige head. Nice lacing.
Aroma: Mild chocolate, coffee, roasted malt and some spicy notes.
Palate: Thick oily body. Slightly sweet and a mild bitterness. Soft carbonation. Dry texture.
Taste: Roasted malt, coffee, chocolate and some spices. Complex heavy stuff..
Overall impression: Tasty and powerful impy.
Personal stats: Bottle from Systembolaget in Uddevalla, Sweden.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Jun 2013
at 17:55
6.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Huge dark brown head. Opaque black body. Earthy chocolatey spicy aroma with licorice and cardamom notes. Dry-sweet spicy burnt licorice taste with chocolate pudding notes. Full-bodied. Sharpish, hot mouthfeel. Dry chocolatey spicy earthy aftertaste with licorice and alcohol notes. Some mint and bread, too, in the background. Mineraly burnt traces, too. It’s quite interesting, but also a bit sharp and domineering without really offering that much for all the alcohol and hop bite. I will admit that it does have considerable complexity. (0.65l bottle, from ... I’m not sure where from.)
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 May 2013
at 15:05
8.4/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 8/27/2012. Pours dense pitch black color with a 2 finger dense and fluffy tan head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of big dark chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, toast, brown sugar, char, candi sugar, raisin, light coffee, and earthy hop spiciness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark malt notes with moderate hop balance. Taste of big dark chocolate, roasted malt, pine, char, caramel, toast, brown sugar, coffee, and roasted earthiness. Fair amount of roasted pine bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, char, toast, brown sugar, coffee, pine, and earthy spiciness on the finish for a while. Very nice balance and complexity of roasted flavors, dark malt sweetness, and piney/spicy hops; with no cloying flavors after the finish. Medium-high carbonation and full bodied; with a creamy, slick, and lightly prickly mouthfeel that is very nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a very excellent Russian imperial stout. All around nice complexity and balance of roasted/dark malt flavors with moderate piney/spicy hop balance; and very smooth to sip on. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 May 2013
at 22:14
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Smak och doft av malt, choklad, vanilj, Kärv med en mörk chokladbitter beska. Lite spretig i sitt framförande.
Tried
on 12 Apr 2013
at 05:22
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottled:
Pours pitch black in color with a huge thick brown head that sinks slowly. Aromas are roasted malt, chocolate, cold coffee and a touch of vanilla. Taste has a nice light sweetness at the start and then bitter coffee and deep roasted malt take over. Alcohol comes through in the finish.
Pours pitch black in color with a huge thick brown head that sinks slowly. Aromas are roasted malt, chocolate, cold coffee and a touch of vanilla. Taste has a nice light sweetness at the start and then bitter coffee and deep roasted malt take over. Alcohol comes through in the finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Mar 2013
at 10:58
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 4
Texture 8
Overall 9
chocolate, roasty, earthy, black, cloudy, minimal head, medium sweetness, lightly bitter, medium body, creamy,
Tried
on 01 Mar 2013
at 18:15
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
From a 22 oz bottle shared at home. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma of toasted malt. Flavors of licorice, chocolate and coffee. Viscous mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. Bitter, burnt coffee finish. Nic.
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Mar 2013
at 18:09
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Deep dark brown coloured body with a thick, two centimetre tall strong brown head. Aroma of roasted malt, oatmeal, vanilla, oak, sweet pit fruits and a good hit of anise. Full-bodied; Strong roasty notes with a bit of raisins, coffee, light chocolate and a little anise/licorice noticeable. Aftertaste shows a dry roasty note with a hit of oak, vanilla and some raisins. Overall, a nice and relatively dry/simple imperial stout - not too much complexity here, and more on the dry/oaky side opposed to the sweet/bitter/complex types. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from BevMo in San Francisco (Geary Boulevard), California on 14-January-2012 for US$5.67 sampled at home in New Paltz, New York on 23-February-2013. 2015 Bottle: a: dark brown, no movement s: molasses, pitted fruits, vanilla t: oatmeal, light coffee, caramelised sugars p: burnt sugars, cream, bitterness o: rich, pungent, dark Liqour Outlet: Boonton, NJ - 09-March-2018 - US$3,19 - 12oz bottle - sampled [again]: 06-May-2023 Rating for this sample: 8,3,8,3,14
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Feb 2013
at 20:45
8.2/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
65 cl bottle @ Olutravintola Konttori. Rated on 23.07.2009
Aroma has dark chocolate, some licorice, coffee and hints of ash. Flavour is somewhat sweet with licorice and dark chocolate. Finishes with coffee, some sugary and distant herbal notes. Rich and good! 8+5+8+4+16=4.1
65 cl bottle @ Olutravintola Pikkulintu
Aroma is sweet and sticky with malty tones and sugar. Flavour is sweet with vanilla, cocoa, some herbal tones and salty licorice. A bit too sweet but nice still. 8+4+8+4+17 = 4.1
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Feb 2013
at 01:34
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5
Flaska @ Systembolaget. Kolsvart vätska med mörkt skum som avtar fort. Ganska intensiv doft av charkuterier, gammalt skeppsvirke och kaffe. Kraftig smak med fyllig munkänsla. Trist spritsmak på slutet.
Tried
on 05 Feb 2013
at 08:47