Imagine a deliciously looking choco-vanilla dessert covered in soft mocha crust. You slice it through the middle, thus revealing a velvety smooth, almost liquid core. A divine aroma of cocoa and vanilla starts emanating from it; it reaches your nostrils and waters your mouth. You take a bite, close your eyes, and start chewing it. The blend of milk chocolate and fresh vanilla nibs culminates into a small sensory orgasm before it smoothly makes its way down your throat. Not a complex taste by any means, yet fabulously good. You open your eyes and look back at the dessert. The bittersweet finish makes you want to take another piece.
That's how I would describe Põhjala's Christmas edition Imperial Porter. By the way, does anyone know how the name of the beer should be pronounced? @sulev?
All shots are taken with Lumix G80 & Lensbaby Velvet 56mm f/1.6, which is normally used for flower photography. I think it's equally good for beer photography.
I also tried to take a selfie for you guys, but that turned to be a notoriously difficult job with a 56mm (112 mm when mounted on a 4/3 body) manual focus lens. Next time ;)
Cheers!
Dan
With this beer post, I am participating in the weekly #beersaturday challenge, which is run by @detlev. You can see the main post and all entries here. If you'd like to help me win the contest, please visit the main post and upvote my comment. Thank you!
You can have the beer; I want that dessert! Really fun use of the Lensbaby! These are great shots.
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I stopped eating desserts a couple of months ago, so we have a deal :P Thank you, Lisa!
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I’m not sure what any of those words mean 🤷♀️
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😂
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Great story... I want a piece from the dessert too!
Photos look gorgeous!
Cheers!
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Cheers, Miro, and thank you! :) Пробвал ли си бира с някакъв десерт?
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Мисля, че само със столично тъмно... но определено бих се поглези някой път с имперски стаут, комбиниран с десерт!
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Awwww, I wanted to see a telephoto selfie! wYou could have gotten an eye and eyebrow, maybe!
Nice beer shots. I like the detail in the bubbles. Was that second shot a calibrated pint glass?
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Haha, maybe even both eyes 👀 and eyebrows :) Thank you, Mark!
There could have been even more detail in the bubble shot but I am still getting used to the manual focus. The glass is actually less than a pint - 250 milliliters.
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I can do selfies with my ultra wide lens, but the distortion is intense. Makes you look alien!
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Haha, but such selfies are quite funny!
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Nicely done Dan. I upvoted your contest too. Interesting comments and bottles on the contest post. Good luck!
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Thank you, Deb, much appreciated! ☺️ It's a great little beer community, and the main weekly post usually has a lot of cool beers and funny comments
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Lovely photography and the porter looks amazing. Perhaps not a beer for the hot Australian summer though.
Is the lensbaby a type of filter?
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Thank you, man! Haha, I guess not even for the mild and warm Australian winters 😁
The Lensbaby is an actual manual focus lens :) It's something like a 3 in 1 lens - it can be used creatively as it makes light and objects glow when it's wide open at f/1.6 and f/2, when stopped down to f/4, it becomes a normal portrait lens, and as a bonus, it can be used for macro photography.
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Oh wow. That is so cool. I’ve never heard of it.
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Do you have a dedicated camera, or are you taking pictures with your smartphone? :)
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I'm just using a smartphone at this stage but have a Canon 5D MkIII as well. Only problem is that I don't have a suitable lens for taking macro or portraits.
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That's some serious gear :) What lenses do you have?
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I only have one lens. It’s a 100-400mm telephoto. Canon as well.
I gave my other lenses to my Dad along with my old camera after he tried to give his a bath in a fast moving river.
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Awesome description. This one sounds delicious!
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Thank you, Jeff! Not as delicious as the one that you reviewed :)
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You know what...I hate beer, always did, but after that description I would definitely try it. Great post dear!
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Thank you, Di! I am sure that, with time and persistence, I will be able to convert quite a few non-beer people into beer-lovers :P
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Hahahahaha you can definitely try 😉
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I'd love to taste it! Looks delicious by the way you describe it! Will upvote your post in the main post!
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Thank you, Isabel, much appreciated! :) Are you going to join the challenge again in the future?
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You're welcome! I hope you win. I will, I have some new pics... I am not fond of the new evaluation method, though. It's fair but for more popular people. For the last one I had to ask for votes and I don't like that.
I will join just for fun!
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Yeah, do it just for the fun :)
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:))
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And that’s why I like Christmas ;) This lensbaby (how do I love this name, how cute is that, right?) did a fantastic job :) But seriously, no selfie... Such disappointment...
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Yeah, I think it's a great name for a lens :) It is a disappointment - I know half of the Steemians come here to see a selfie, not to read a beer review :P
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YUM Dan, I just want to go to sleep now and dream about this wonderful brew.
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Hey Lakshmi, did you have sweet beer dreams last night? :)
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Dan somehow it was an IPA that appeared, just like this:
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What a dreamy photo :) looks like taken with the same lens
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Just a bit of editing ;)
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Very nice. It looks great, too bad I don't think I can get it where I live... That being said, I am a huge fan of porters and Christmas beers in general. Did it have any spice notes or was it just a special porter they only brewed for the holidays?
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What I've been told by the guy at the beer shop is that Põhjala only sells this one around X-mas. There were a couple of bottles left at the shop, so I picked one of them :) I couldn't feel any spice notes to be honest 🙄
By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if they export beer to the USA.
Thanks for your comment, Tim!
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Ah, I see. Well you can't pass up on a good beer when you have the chance to nab one! Spice or no spice, it looked and sounded good from the pictures/description.
I'll have to take a look for it. It's been a little while since I've perused my usual store. They tend to focus more on Local stuff, but they do have a wall dedicated to European imports. I'll see what I can find :)
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Thanks again, man! The local beer store here also has a dedicated wall to "US" beers :) That said, can you recommend a good American IPA? There's a slight chance that I'll be able to find it :)
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Hmm, any chance you can take a picture of the wall or at least let me know some of the breweries available? There are a ton of excellent American IPA's, but a lot of the ones I'm familiar with are small breweries, so I have no idea if they are able to get them where you're at. That being said, if I recognize any of the breweries available to you, I'll be much better equipped to make some suggestions.
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Hey man, I went to the beer shop yesterday, but I couldn't manage to take a picture of it. They have quite a few from Anchor Brewing, Anderson Valley, and Flying Dog. I actually tried an IPA from Flying Dog a couple of weeks ago, and I quite liked it :)
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Hmm, I've had a couple by all three of those, but not sure I've had any of their IPA's. I know the first 2 are from California and the last one is from the Northeast. I think I've had the original Anchor Steam beer, the winter warmers from both Anchor and Anderson Valley, and the G&T Gose from Anderson. All of them were pretty good if I remember correctly, though I'm not the biggest fan of goses, so I personally didn't enjoy it as much as the other beers. For Flying Dog, I've only had their Pearl Necklace stout and the Doggie Style pale ale. While not my favorite, their beers are pretty solid all around though, so I'm sure some of their IPA's are pretty good.
If you have access to Dogfish Head, you should try the 90 Minute IPA. It is a bit more mainstream here in the states, but it's a solid Imperial IPA. I doubt they would have it since it is fairly rare even here, but if you can find their 120 Minute IPA, that one is very nice. If drunk fresh, it is raw and equivalent to a kick in the face, but if you age it for a couple years, it smooths out a lot. Watch out though, that one is 18% ABV and will mess you up quickly. If they happen to have Clown Shoes, pretty much any of their beers are excellent, including their IPA's. Southern Tier makes a great Double IPA (they also have an Imperial IPA, or at least they did, which kind of confuses me since it's effectively the same). Hmm, my personal favorite IPA is by Gigantic Brewing, and is called Pipewrench. It is a Gin barrel aged IPA and is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, they are pretty small yet, so it is unlikely they would be shipping much, if any, overseas.
You may also want to keep a lookout for Stone. Their basic IPA is a bit harsh and lacking in malt backbone if you ask me, but some of their other IPA's (and they have a lot) are not bad. If they happen to have it and you are in the mood to try something different, they actually have a Mocha IPA that I personally like. Chocolate, coffee, and hops. It is strange, but it works.
If you get the chance, let me know what other breweries your shop has. It's kind of fun sharing ideas from across the pond :)
In the meantime, please let me know if you have any breweries I should be on the lookout for. I tend to gravitate toward stouts and porters, some stronger ales, sours, and the occasional IPA.
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Hey man, thank you for the thorough and awesome comment! I remember there was a documentary about Dogfish Head brewery where they called them "an eccentric brewery for eccentric people" :) I've never had anything above 12-13% ABV, so the 120 Minute IPA will definitely be a beer that I will seek out.
I went to another beer store yesterday, and although most of the time the stores have similar selections of craft beers, I was able to find a couple of interesting ones from Rogue - Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout. Have you had the chance to try it?
I have been quite impressed with Põhjala lately, which is a brewery from Estonia. They have a couple of wonderful porters called Must Kuld and Öö. Another beer I'd recommend is the Norwegian LA 3 Beans Stout - it's quite boozy with its 13% ABV but I absolutely loved it!
Cheers!
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you told me so beautifully that I felt beautiful tastes in my mouth! and great photos. Thank you very much for your work. congratulations.
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Mission accomplished, then 😊 Thank you!
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great post! I'll have to keep an eye out for this beer!
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Thank you @terminalblue! Are craft beers popular in Greece?
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just starting to get more popular. We have a few really great local microbreweries, and a few bars and shops dedicated to imported stuff but it’s still hard to get anything other than a basic lager at most bars.
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I guess we are a step ahead in terms of craft beers then :P By the way, Mythos and FIX are quite good :)
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DAMN! That intro was killin' me. Good stuff man I can almost taste the beer. I'm doing #beersaturday (finally!!) tomorrow. Can't wait to see what you got in store for us too
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Haha! Thanks a lot, Chrissy! Where's your beer post?!
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Nice!
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Thanks, man!
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Wow. This is a whole new genre that I never new existed !
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Haha, beer photography? :)
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