Beer – #1,116 – Liberty Brewing – Prohibition Porter

Liberty Brewing Prohibition Porter, this year in a can – a big serving can, unlike previous iterations that have been in a 330ml bottle, and the mystique that comes with rare beer in small bottles. I’m going to say that I have a 2022 version in the cupboard, as well as the 23 version, so I can compare them side by side at some point, but not today. So I haven’t had the 22 version, and I have some questions.

Liberty Brewing Company make the Liberty Prohibition Porter in Helensville, Auckland, 🇳🇿New Zealand it is of course a Porter – Imperial by style an is of 13.5% ABV

While insipid bootlegged ales were axed by the pious, sly grog shops and speakeasies continued to serve the good stuff. Those in the know indulged in tipples made all the more sweet by their illicit nature, like this richly textured Prohibition Porter. Secreted in charred oak bourbon barrels it envelopes your tastebuds in chocolately brown malts before steamrollering them with a heady amalgam of oak and caramel.
_{Brewers Notes}

So, What could possibly go wrong?

Big Chocolate aroma on cracking the can open, (a big chocolate aroma not some chocolate conspiracy), that and that lovely rich fruit note, and that’s just from opening the can.

A lovely pour of oil pitch-black beer with a coffee off-color head that has some retention and settles. That bit aroma is still there, and I also get some drier oats sitting there. Who knows what the nose knows.

Giant mouthfeel beer, which seems extraordinarily very sweet and came as a surprise, not something I was expecting, and it made me flinch a little. I tried again, and it is quite sweet; it wasn’t just an initial take.

There are some lovely notes in this. They lay over the undertone of the alcohol astringency. Pushing aside the towering sweetness, I’m absolutely really enjoying the layer of fruits that this has. It is, in itself, quite outstanding and really engaging.

This is a highly anticipated release from Liberty, and when I was picking it up was told that there was an awful lot of work and care goes into producing this. I don’t expect it will sell out, and there are some of the previous year stock available, but it a bit of a luxury purchase. One that I’m pleased I made with the caveat that this really is just a bit too sweet to be something to lean into or lean back to.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 8 of its things from the thing. it really is a thing of luxury, and it is a straight up and down Porter, there’s no filler, additives or distraction, it is what it is. Which is a very good, if a bit sweet, Porter.

The double dip review

• Where did I get it? I went to the Taproom in Helensville but this this in the local stores now. Similarly priced to the last beer I wrote on the Garage Project Belly of the Beast at under $20, or twice a Good IPA 🙂
• Am I enjoying it? It is gloriously pleasing and enjoyable, but it is rather sweet and that’s not something I was really expecting, and it’s just too sweet that it takes away a bit from the whole.
• Would I have another? I do have another, in the cupboard for a later date.
• Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? It might be said that first beer of the afternoon at 12.3% is imprudent, and I might agree, but this is some decadence and indulgence that makes it just a bit more worthwhile. I’m looking forward to having a share of these and the previous version to see if it makes me wiser or smarter.

Music for this:  Delaney Davidson , Bad Luck Man, Signed as a record store purchase some years ago. Since the album is from 2011 Imma guess sometime after but not long.

Porter – Imperial

The Imperial Porter is a substantial, extra-strong dark malty beer with a complex and flavorful dark malt character with a restrained bitterness. It may have a range of roasted flavors, generally without burnt qualities, and often has a chocolate-caramel-malty profile. Stronger, more bitter and often with more dark malt qualities and dryness than of regular Porters but lack the overt roastiness of an Imperial Stout.