Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter

I picked up a bottle of Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of coffee, espresso, caramel, vanilla, dark chocolate, and toasted malts. The taste is full of dark and bitter chocolate with lots of toasted malts. Once the bold chocolate flavor subsides a bit, coffee takes over the mouth with a touch of vanilla sweetness. The finish is dry and roasted that lingers for a while with a bitterness and a bit of carbonation bite on the back of the throat. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. The dark chocolate bitterness and the coffee bitterness really played nicely together, bound by the vanilla sweetness. It definitely ranks up there with the better coffee infused beers.

Iron Hill Bourbon Vanilla Tripel

I got to try a glass of Iron Hill Bourbon Vanilla Tripel at Belgium Comes to West Chester. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head that leaves a lacing on the glass. The aroma is grassy with a hint of vanilla, but it is a very faint aroma. The taste is dry up front with grass but has a lot of banana. A big vanilla sweetness takes over the beer, and sadly is taste like extract rather than vanilla beans. Some bourbon comes out in the finish and warms the back of the throat with pepper bites, but it is not significant. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. I set my expectations high with this beer, and was somewhat let down, as the vanilla tasted like extract and the bourbon wasn’t as pronounced as I would have liked.