Huge beige head. Deep dark red body with strong carbonation. Strong malty caramelly aroma with fruity earthy spice notes. Dry-sweet malty caramelly earthy taste with wooden spice notes. Mid-bodied. Soft, smooth mouthfeel. Dryish spicy minty earthy aftertaste with caramel and toffee notes. Very nice and highly drinkable. (0.5l bottle, Ølbutikken, Copenhagen.)

Bolttle from Wine & Cheese in Clayton, MO. Pours dark brown with a cafe au lait head. Aroma of darkish milk chocolate. There’s a lot of chocolate, and maybe a light touch of coffee or could be hop. But there’s no stopping the chocolate. Excellent.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown color with a small off-white head. Has a roasted malty caramel aroma with hints of chocolate. Roasted malty chocolate and caramel flavor. Has a roasted malty caramel finish.

Bottle. Pours a clear amber color with a small off-white head. Has a roasted malty caramel aroma with yeasty hints. Roasted malty yeasty spicy caramel flavor. Has a roasted malty caramel finish.

From a 500ml bottle on 23/4/2011. Pours very dark brown to black with little head. Has a huge chocolatey aroma with some dark fruit. The flavour is a nice balance of roasted malt and sweet milk chocolate. There is quite a strong burnt bitter taste at the end. The body is medium. This is an excellent porter.

Bottle 500ml. @ home.Clear medium orange yellow color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, pale malt, moderate to heavy hoppy, citrus, grapefruit, sweet citrus. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and light heavy bitter with a long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20110322]

Bottle. I highly question that these should be separate entries. My bottle states a best before of September 21, 2011, but yet has the same description as the 2009 version.
Anyway, pours with a very murky to muddy amber brown hue with a small, off-white head that doesn’t last very long. Aromas are slightly musty, grainy, raw clover honey, wet dog, citrus, tropical fruit and hay. Some esters. Not very clean. Hops are not the showcase of the aroma (at least not in this, assumingly fresh sample). Flavors of fruit (tropical, passionfruit, mango, papaya), with a quick varnish flavor and some acid. Incredibly quick duration. Bitter finish, no malt body. I am kind of perplexed as to what is going on with this beer. It is not pleasant. A decent amount of ethanol, and a slight hint of funk (brett even). Possibly an infection. Lively bubbles. Odd finish. I have had several homebrewed IPAs with Rakau before. This is not normal.

Bottle. Chestnut brown with medium tan head. Flavour is malt, sweet, caramel, fruit, spices, bitter and hops.

Bottle. Clear amber, tan edge head. Aroma of caramel and pepper. taste is butterscotch and pepper. OK.

From a 500ml bottle on 4/3/2011. Batch 40, best before 27/10/2011. The aroma is cirtus fruit (orange and passionfruit), candy, and burnt toffee malt. There’s more sweet burnt toffee in the flavour, along with some caramel and orange marmalade. There’s a decent dose of counterbalancing hop action, though it’s certainly not over the top by IPA standards, particularly one which is labelled an Imperial. This is a good, rather sweet IPA, though it’s not the your face experience I thought it might be.