Dec 27, 2013

10 Barrel / Blue Jacket / Stone Brewing Suede Imperial Porter

This Halloween marked two firsts for me. One, this collaboration between Stone Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing (Oregon) and Bluejacket Brewing (Washington, D.C.) served as an introduction two of the company’s involved. Two, and by far more importantly, this was the first year that I did not take my daughter around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating. She wanted to go with some friends who happened to live across town so she and the wife hit the road. I, drowned my sorrows with Suede, a 9.6% ABV imperial porter.

As with most of the recent collaborative efforts coming out of Stone, the ingredients for Suede are rather unique. Avocado honey, jasmine and calendula flowers have all been added at various points in the brewing process to a beer that could not be any better named. The texture of this beer is wonderfully smooth. The overall flavor, however, failed to impress as much as the Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout.

Appearance

The beer pours a very dark brown with mahogany edge and a large stack of mocha colored foam.

Stone Brewing Suede photo

Aroma

Coffee, jasmin and earthy honey arrive immediately as a light perfumy/floral presence lingers in the background along with a moderate roast.

Taste

A good bit of a roasty char starts things off as dark coffee, herbal notes, distant honey and cocoa flow in soon after. A light bit of bitterness hangs around in the warming and sem-dry finish. There’s an interesting character that I can’t quite pinpoint late in the finish. The medium bodied Suede has a smooth texture as it flows over the tongue. It’s a surprisingly easy drinking beer for its size.

Overall

Suede is a good beer, but it didn’t floor me like the Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout did. Now, that’s not to say that every beer should have that sort of impact. That would be ridiculous to expect that with each and every beer — collaboration or not.

I was just hoping that this beer was a bit more in line with what I like in porters. The herbal and floral notes were a bit of a distraction for my personal liking. Still, Suede kept me company nicely as I passed out candy to tiny goblins, power rangers and one or two Spongebobs on a chilly, damp night.

Rating: 3.75/5

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