Bottle thanks to cgarvieuk. Pours dark brown with a thick tan head. Aromas of light coffee, liquorice. Taste is dry, instant coffee. Cocoa powder.

Bottle at James's. Pours black, nose is cocoa powder, chocolate, meaty, taste is similar, light bitterness.

Bottle, labeled as Steelhead Extra Stout. Bought in New York 2013. Black with a small tan head. Aroma of chocolate, light roasted malt, some dried fruit and notes of licorice. Old but still a drinkable one.

My third encounter with this Californian craft brewer, an imperial porter from a somewhat old school-labelled American style bomber. Mousy, mocha-beige, medium thick, gradually opening head on a very dark chestnut brown beer with mahogany glow, approaching black. Aroma of bitter chocolate, green coffee beans, pipe tobacco, very clear iron (as in ferrous spring water or even haemoglobin), coffee filters, dry tea bags, blackpudding, caramel, pine wood, minerals. Sweetish onset, very clean and streamlined, caramelly from the start with accents of candied fig and dried date, softish carb, smooth and slick body. Hard-caramelly and walnutty maltiness developing a more bitter-chocolatey and roasted coffeeish bitterness towards the end, while this strong 'ferrous' iron effect zings at the edges; peppery hop accent in the end, along with lingering caramel, coffee (or iced latté) and bayleaf impressions, followed by gently warming, well-positioned and nowhere too intrusive alcohol. Clean, rather straightforward but very well-balanced strong porter with a stout-like roastiness to it, quite old school but I love it; some minor criticism could involve a somewhat thinnish body for its ABV and too much iron effect, but I personally am hardly bothered by that in this kind of beer.

Slammi ' salmon..,. Can go wrong

Hazy amber colour with thin head. Aroma and flavour are packed with sweet caramel malts . Smooth and dangerously easy to drink.