Ölbeat 332 (BC17 #19): Sonnisaari Juomahammas II

Brewery: Sonnisaari (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has milk chocolate, vanilla, sweet roast and oak. Taste starts with bitter chocolate roast. Sweet milk chocolate and bitter roasted malts take over with hints of vanilla and oak. Towards the end sweet roasted malts, dark chocolate and spicy oak flavour get on top with soft boozy warmth. Aftertaste has bitter dark chocolate, sweetish roasted malts and oaky-spicy whisky bite - and it lasts.

Warming and delicious Imperial Porter. Chocolate, oak, roast, spices, booze - complex and layered rich flavours. Finish is phenomenal. Hard to tell whether I loved this one more than the sherry version. Absolutely beautiful brew.

Ölbeat

Searching for great Finnish craft beer can sometimes seem to be "hunting high and low and even in between", if high is considered to be the Northern Finland and low the Southern Finland. This time we caught an excellent brew from one of the breweries up north.

Stratovarius: Hunting High And Low (YouTube)

From the 2000 album Infinite, the song was written by Timo Tolkki and Timo Kotipelto.

Ölbeat 326 (BC17 #13): Swannay Barrel Aged Orkney Porter (Isle of Arran)

Brewery: Swannay Brewery
Country: Scotland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 10,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small tan head. Aroma has chocolate, nuts, roast and oaky-spicy alcohol (very nice!). Taste begins with bittersweet fruity chocolate. Sweet roasted malts, dark chocolate and booze-soaked fruits take over. Towards the end spicy chocolate and dry oaky-fruity alcohol mix deliciously, while sweet roasted malts give the liquid a solid backbone. Aftertaste has sweet fruity-spicy chocolate and dryish oaky-bitter whisky.

Rich and sweet barrel-aged Imperial Porter. The sweet chocolate-roasty basic porter is obviously nicely present, the aging of 12 months (in previous editions 18 months) in Isle of Arran Orkney Bere casks shows up in fruits, spice, oak and booze. The whole package is delicious. The brew has a fine story and tastes simply great.

Ölbeat

"I am a mountain / I am the sea / You can't take away from me." Well, OK, the Orkney Islands are mainly quite flat but there are some steep coastal cliffs. But the Isle of Arran is called Scotland in miniature: there are some mountains. And certainly, presence of the sea is always strongly there in the Scottish islands.

Biffy Clyro: Mountains (YouTube)

From the 2009 album Only Revolutions, the song was written by Simon Neil.

Ölbeat 325 (BC17 #12): Sonnisaari Juomahammas I

Brewery: Sonnisaari (in Finnish)
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a finger-thick foamy beige head. Aroma has roast, espresso, chocolate and vanilla. Taste starts with bitter heavy-roasted espresso. Vanilla-spiced espresso and powerful roast take over with bitter dark chocolate. Towards the end bitter roast gets on top with some sweet cherry notes showing up. Aftertaste has coffee roast, chocolate bitter and spiced oaky dryness.

Strong and delicious Imperial Porter. Powerful basic elements - vanilla sweetness, turbo roast, espresso and chocolate - get some cherry-oaky vibes in the finish. Excellent one from Sonnisaari.

Ölbeat

Strong, passionate and complex - sounds like a troubled relationship. This rock ballad is about one near the end or, as the final verse of the lyrics says: "I will try until the last drop falls."

Sonata Arctica: Last Drop Falls (YouTube)

From the 2001 album Silence, the song was written by Tony Kakko.

Ölbeat 304: Sori / AF Brew Midsummer Melancholy

Brewery: Sori Brewing / AF Brew (in Russian)
Country: Estonia (Russia)
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has milk chocolate, coffee, vanilla and gentle roast - a scent to drown into. Taste starts with sweet and gentle vanillaish roast. Sweet chocolate, bitter black coffee and boozy roast take over. Towards the end sweet chocolate liquor with vanilla and coffee gets on top, while smoothly bitter roast lingers in the background. Aftertaste has dark chocolate, sweet vanilla and gently bitter alcohol warmth.

Delicious dessert Imperial Baltic Porter. Chocolate, vanilla and alcohol rule with their sweet and gentle grasp. Coffee and roast surrender and accept the supporting role. The result is a superb and beautiful brew. Even though - or maybe just because - the beer was enjoyed a month ago, at the edge of ending summer.

Ölbeat

Since everyone knows the obvious choice for this brew, I included it below the actual choice. The obvious choice clearly lost the duel, due to this song's dark power that I associate with the brew. 

Paradise Lost: No Hope in Sight (YouTube)

From the 2015 album Plague Within, the song was written by Nick Holmes and Greg Mackintosh.

The Obvious Choice

Almost too clear first choice for the brew, but in my opinion much too light slow disco song for a heavy beer. Melancholy is simply deeper than plain sadness. 

Lana Del Rey: Summertime Sadness (YouTube)

From the 2012 album Born to Die, the song was written by Lana Del Rey and Rick Nowels.

Ölbeat 276: Nøgne Ø / Terrapin Imperial Rye Porter

Brewery: Nøgne Ø (Terrapin Beer Co.)
Country: Norway
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 9 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small tan head. Aroma has roasted malts, spicy chocolate and sweet citrus fruits. Taste begins with roasted malty dark chocolate. Dark chocolate and roasted malts take over with hints of espresso. Towards the end spicy liquorice and bittersweet citrus get pleasantly through. Aftertaste has bitter citrus, dark chocolate and spicy sweet roasted malts.

Incredibly rich Imperial Porter. Rye malts seem to add spice, sweetness and thickness to the brew. Probably American hops give strong citrus and liquorice to the mix. The result is rich and complex parade of flavours. Damn fine stuff. Thanks go to the brewers of the Naked Island in Norway and their colleagues in Athens, Georgia.

Ölbeat

It's black. It's heavy. Now it belongs to the secret stash of my favourite brews.

Avenged Sevenfold: Welcome to the Family (YouTube)

From the 2010 album Nightmare, the song was written by Avenged Sevenfold.

Ölbeat 249: To Øl Black Ball Porter

Brewery: To Øl
Country: Denmark (brewed in Belgium)
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a huge beige head. Aroma has charcoal roast, espresso and burned liquorice. Taste begins with biting bittersweet roast. Bitter charred malts take over with notes of espresso, dark chocolate and liquorice. Towards the end bitter citrus flavours get mixed with the charred roast. Aftertaste has fruity bitterness and dryish malty roast.

Heavily roasted and bitter, fruity-turning Imperial Porter. Start is completely owned by bitter charred-roasted malts, but the finish shows the citrus in the bitterness. Strong and complex. Excellent.

Ölbeat

Charred fruity roughness made me look for some rock with balls. Ended up with broken ones and power rock from Down Under.

AC/DC: Ballbreaker (YouTube)

From the 1995 album Ballbreaker, the song was written by Angus Young and Malcolm Young.

Ölbeat 212: Stadin American Imperial Porter

Brewery: Stadin Panimo
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 9,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a medium-sized foamy beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, sweet citrus, chocolate and liquorice. Taste starts with fruity and roasted bitter bite. Sweet roasted malts and strong grapefruit bitterness take over with liquorice on the background. Near the finish fruity bitterness gets on top with a sweet orange tone. Aftertaste has sweet citrus bitterness and gentle boozy roast.

Pretty fresh and funky Imperial Porter. The American side dominates here in the form of sweet citrus-packed hops, while the roast plays the rhythm guitar. Somehow this brew reminds me of fresh Siperia, but the flavours are definitely deeper and softer. Excellent and delicious beer.

Ölbeat

First time with Stadin Panimo (it's been a while) I chose another song from the same band. By incident? Well, no. I think that the brewery will forever be stuck with the first real ambassadeurs of rock made in Finland. If the people in Stadin Panimo aren't ok with that, I'll give them some time to change their minds.

Hanoi Rocks: Tragedy (YouTube)

From the 1981 album Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks, the song was written by Andy McCoy.

Ölbeat 198: Evil Twin Lil' B

Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
Country: United States
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11,5 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has charred roast, black coffee and dark chocolate. Taste begins with sharply bitter dark chocolate and coffee. Strongly bitter and semisweet roast, chocolate and coffee take over. Towards the end burned roast and espresso bitterness with dark chocolate get through. Aftertaste has dry cocoa, bitter dark mocca chocolate and alcohol warmth.

Superb and delicious Imperial Porter. Powerful and bitter mix of roast, chocolate and coffee. My second beautiful Impy from the brother from the dark side. Waiting to get my hands on the next one.

Ölbeat

Hip hop? Nope.We'll leave the loose trouser stuff out, since this brew is far more raw power than any rhiming clown could ever show. True domination of strong flavours.

Pantera: Domination (YouTube)

From the 1990 album Cowboys from Hell, the song was written by Pantera.

Ölbeat 160: Pôhjala Jôuluöö

Brewery: Pôhjala
Country: Estonia
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, sweet chocolate and vanilla. Taste starts with sweet and bitter black coffee. Deliciously soft amd sweet coffee with chocolate, vanilla and bitter roast takes over. Near the finish chocolate sweetness, vanilla spice and oaky flavour rise above other flavours. Aftertaste has sweet mocca, dark chocolate and bitter roast.

Couldn't be happier about the fact that the actual Christmas spices are not present in this great seasonal brew. Vanilla, cocoa and oak really spice the Imperial Porter up amazingly. Real treat that'll be on my glass during the winter again.

Ölbeat

Even though it's hard for me to accept that this is an actual seasonal brew, I'll have to respect the beer's name. Of course it's a choice between Silent Night (in Finnish: Jouluyö, juhlayö) and O Holy Night (in Finnish: Oi Jouluyö). In the end, it's the timeless, soft voice of the performer that makes the latter the preferable one.  

By the way: Merry Christmas, everyone! Ölmönger's off to the holidays for a while. Will be back after the Boxing Day. 

Nat King Cole: O Holy Night (YouTube)

From the 1960 album The Magic of Christmas, the song was composed by Adolphe Adam and the English lyrics were written by John Sullivan Dwight.

Ölbeat 146: Midtfyns Bryghus/De Molen X Porter

Brewery: Midtfyns Bryghus (Brouwerij de Molen)
Country: Denmark 
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a small beige head. Aroma has sweet roasted malts, liquorice, black coffee and chocolate. Taste bites sharply with sweet roasted malts. Sweet ashy-roasted malts and dark chocolate take over with moderate alcoholic bitterness and a mild slice of coffee in the background. Towards the end sweet liquorice comes in front and alcohol bites gently. Aftertaste has the combination of all flavours: sweet roast and bitterness, chocolate, liquorice and alcohol.

Unbelievably rich, thick, complex and delicious Imperial Porter. The combination of flavours is overwhelming: roast, liquorice, chocolate and a nice boozy kick in the end. This collab truly shows the brewing skills in both breweries. Masterpiece. Perfect.

Ölbeat

It's the third time committing the same sin: pairing a Danish beer with a Volbeat song. Well, it's the first for Midtfyns brew and truly deserved. Tough Porter that shares immortality with the song's lyrics.

Volbeat (ft. Johan Olsen): For Evigt (YouTube)

From the 2016 album Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie, the song was written by Michael Poulsen.

Ölbeat 113: Ugly Duck Rye Porter

Brewery: Indslev Bryggeri / Ugly Duck Brewing Co.  
Country: Denmark
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 7,8 %
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What about the beer?

Colour is black with a medium-sized beige head. Aroma has mild roast, sweet rye bread and some salty liquorice. Taste begins with sweet malty coffee. Sweet roasted rye malts, black coffee and mocca-flavoured chocolate lead the smooth and harmonic taste with a perfecting vanilla-spicy note. Near the finish gentle sweet bitterness and a hint of warming alcohol come through. Aftertaste has black coffee, roasted malty dryness and a sip of sugared alcohol.

Rich, beautiful and absolutely delicious Imperial Porter. Roast, coffee, rye, hops and alcohol all joined with a delicate sweet note. No hop explosion, no overpowering extremes - just an extreme explosion of smoothness and balance. The surprise of taste was skillfully hidden in the aroma.

Ölbeat

Now we talk about a serious problem: I'm putting Danish rock and Danish beers together. Well, things could be worse: I could match bad music with awful brews.

D-A-D: It'swhenit'swrongit'sright (YouTube)

From the 1995 album Helpyourselfish, the song was written by D-A-D.

Ölbeat 070: Ballast Point Victory At Sea

Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company
Country: United States
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 10 % 
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What about the beer?

Colour is dark brown to black with a small diminishing tan head. Aroma has quality black coffee, milk chocolate, brown sugar and some alcohol. Taste begins with a roasty hoppy coffeeish bite. Rich coffee, espresso and dark bitter chocolate take over with the flavours growing and expanding till the end. Some berries, raisins and vanilla are tasted, too. Aftertaste has bitter cocoa and some alcohol.

There are surprisingly many delicious layers of flavours in the taste: coffee with and without sugar turning to espresso and back. Aroma gives sweet milk chocolate but the taste is more like bitter dark cocoa powder. Just amazing Imperial Porter.

Ölbeat

Delicious and complex dark brew needs a complex and legendary song with the same shade. The greatness is shared, the theme isn't: although the beer is almost black it's affection was quite opposite to the song. I may later regret for reserving this track but then again it's not forbidden to link a great song to more than one beer, it?

The Rolling Stones: Paint It Black (YouTube)

From the 1966 album Aftermath (US version), the song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Ölbeat 038: Pyynikin Vahvaportteri

Brewery: Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo
Country: Finland
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 7,5 %
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Enjoy - or the Bogeyman gets ya!

What about the beer?
Colour is black as the night with medium beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, black coffee, hops and a tiny slice of liquorice. Taste begins with black coffee and sweet bitter hops in front. It smoothly rounds up to roasted caramel malt, and towards the finish liquorice and dark chocolate are added to the palette. Some rye taste is clearly present. Aftertaste is dry bitter and slightly burned.

Here we have a classic imperial porter at the purest. Slightly roasted malts, black coffee and sweet bitterness make this one a very enjoyable brew. As a bonus we get some liquorice and rye. Excellent - gets my recommendation.
 

Ölbeat

Something dark, powerful and spooky was the kind of music that was needed here. After some searching I got my hands to this happy and joyful tune. My apologies to the band (and the blog readers), but instead of the razor blade I'll keep choosing the bottle opener: 

Children of Bodom: Blooddrunk (YouTube)

From the 2008 album Blooddrunk, the song was written by Alexi Laiho.

Ölbeat 032: Brouwerij Kees Export Porter 1750

Brewery: Brouwerij Kees
Country: the Netherlands
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 10,5 %
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The name: Porter made with a 1750 RIS recipe

Brouwerij Kees, founded in 2014, is a microbrewery in Middelburg, the Netherlands. The brewery is owned by former Emelisse master brewer Kees Bubberman. The young brewery has already been awarded Ratebeer's best new brewery in the Netherlands and in Europe and #4 in the world in 2015. Achievements will probably keep Bubberman satisfied for a relatively short time, since his aim is to produce the finest beer in the Netherlands. Export Porter 1750 is one of the top-rated beers from the brewery and of the style, so the expectations are high. 

What about the beer?
Colour is dark-roast coffee black with thin quickly vanishing beige head. Aroma has roasted malts, coffee and vanilla. Taste starts with sweet roasted malts and a snap of hops. Fresh black coffee takes over in an instant. Dark chocolate and hints of vanilla show up in palate. Aftertaste has coffee, bitterness and caramel malts.

Rich, complex and exciting porter - excellent brew. The combination of strong coffee flavor, deeply roasted caramel malts and bitter finish just can't go wrong. The brewery made a difference and turned out be worth more exploration.

Ölbeat

As darkness and sweetness were combined in the brew, so should they be in the matching song, too. The heavy metal genre offered this beauty with the beast:

Amaranthe: Amaranthine (YouTube)

From the 2011 album Amaranthe, the song was written by guitarist-keyboardist Olof Mörck and vocalists Jake E. Lundberg and Andreas Solveström. The Swedish band is known for having three vocalists: singing female (Elize Ryd), singing male (Lundberg) and growling male (until 2013 Solveström, from 2013 Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson). The song's music is a mix of metal ballad and melodic metal with synthesizer elements. The lyrics form a love poem, where the poet sees love overcome darkness and ongoing battle. The poem is addressed to the one, who is the poet's "amaranthine", Greek word meaning immortal or everlasting. Both combining the different genres and writing positive-mooded lyrics for metal songs are distinctive features of the band's music, that divides the listeners to lovers and haters. Sometimes you have to break boundaries to make a difference - that's what connects the song and Export Porter 1750.

Ölbeat 017: De Molen Tsarina Esra

Brewery: Brouwerij de Molen
Country: the Netherlands
Style: Imperial Porter
Abv: 11 %
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The Empress of imperial porters

Tsarina Esra is shortly described as being an imperial porter, which thanks to the fullness, the richness in flavour and the warming feeling makes it perfect for cold nights. In Finland the winter nights tend to be cold, much colder than the Dutch ones, so we didn't need long marketing speeches for this one.

What about the beer?
Colour is black with tiny vanishing beige head. Aroma has coffee, roasted malts and liquorice. Taste begins with gently-heavily roasted (not burnt) malts, soon accompanied by sweetish strong black coffee and salty dark chocolate. Palate adds late hoppy bitterness and some yeast. Aftertaste is sweet and warmly alcoholic.

If there was a porter brewed by the book without any impurities or defects, but still roughly challenging its drinker to a "wishing-this-would-never-end" experience, then this would be it. Truly a royal beer.

Ölbeat

For a counterpart of a beautifully tough beer, I chose this metal ballad by two by-then-veterans of heavy rock:

Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne: Close My Eyes Forever (YouTube)

From Lita Ford's 1988 album Lita, the track was written together by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. For a result of drinking, singing and jamming the song was a success - as the usual story goes. The voices of rough raspy Ford and gloomy high-toned Osbourne make it an unforgettable duet. The lyrics have been interpreted to be about i.e. being scared of falling in or losing love, but there's no confirmed background story. When I heard the song for the first time I was caught in the chorus: "If I close my eyes forever, will it all remain the same?" Closing my eyes while sipping Tsarina Esra immediately reminded me of the song: while tasting a majestic brew I was probably asking the question in my mind.

Brewer's Choice

Nightwish: Over the Hills and Far Away (YouTube)

From the self-titled 2001 EP, the track is a cover of Gary Moore's 1987 original from Wild Frontier. The Nightwish version is a symphonic metal update: the opera-singer-trained vocals of Tarja Turunen bring the singing more in front and the arrangement by songwriter-keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is heavier than in the original. Otherwise the Nightwish version is loyal to Moore's story about a man who gets framed for a robbery he didn't commit. His alibi is spending the night with his love, who is his best friend's wife, but he doesn't want to reveal the secret and goes to jail instead. The song helped to lift Nightwish to international success, but the EP marked another turning point in the band's history: it was the last recording for bassist Sami Vänskä, who was replaced by Marco Hietala.