12.05.2016, tap @ Warpigs:
Nice light brown creamy mediumlasting head. Aroma is slightly rich, dark malts, dark sugar, coffee, mild grassy chillies, minerals, licorice, caramel, grass. Taste is slightly rich and dry, dark malts, hops, espresso, dark sugar, licorice, grass, minerals, bark, burnt caramel. Medium bitterness, slightly dry mouthfeel. Nice.

Bottle, by way of trade with Rich182. Huge thanks, Rich. Clear, dark, chestnut brown. Thin, dense, sticky, viscous, tan head. Aroma of light roast coffee. Soft, gingery spice. Some cocoa. Some fruity chocolate. Subtle cinnamon. Maybe wouldn’t have picked it up if I wasn’t looking for it? Soft, fruity tang behind all that. Whatever, it smells great. Taste is light, tangy bitter. Soft, vanilla sweetness on the lips. Smooth, airy palate. Very easy drinking. Fruity, vinous, cocoa bitter finish. Nice one.

750ml bottle shared by luttonm @FrankenBierFest (Rome). Thank you Matt! Pours deep brown with a medium cappuccino head. Aroma of dark chocolate, coffee, lots of vanilla. Flavour is rich and complex with a rounded body, medium sweet with a good bitter end. Medium to high body, medium to low carbonation. Great one!

Bottle shared by luttonm in Rome-Italy. Grazie. Pours black color, brownish head. Nose: grounded coffee, roasted, a bit smokey. Great. Mouth: cocoa, vanilla, clean finish. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle traded for some Struise vintages in Ghent, cheers Xavier! Very curious about this, seen the fact that this brewery has been hyped by beer geeks to a very large extent in recent years, more so for its saisons and IPAs perhaps, but still... Thick, dense and moussy, yellowish beige, lightly lacing head over a blackish beer with hazy but translucent chestnut brown edges. Complex aroma: a lot of beef stock and bitter chocolate, some faint shoe polish-like solvents but actually fitting in well, old blanket, salmiak, dry earth, bayleaf, subtle and hardly noticeable vanilla touch, dried nettles, white pepper, elderberry, wet leather and, after warming up, a lovely, unexpected, sweet hint of red wine or even sherry. Very umami-like onset, stewed beef and even some dried porcini, low but effective sweetishness of dried fruits, rounded and slightly oily, creamy mouthfeel with velvety texture and soft carbo, some elderberry-like sourishness underlying; caramelly malts turning immediately nutty and eventually toasted, leading to a bitter chocolatey, lightly coffeeish roasted, mouth-filling bitterness; peppery and spicy hop bitterness adds dryness while a basic roasted barley sourishness lingers and retronasally, elegant and subtle hints of vanilla and red wine appear. Technically perfect, the vanilla aspect could have been a lot more pronounced in my opinion, but instead I got unexpected sherryish or red wine-like aromas which make this altogether different from most other porters. Subtle, delicate, completely satisfying example of the style, very glad I tasted this - now on the lookout for more beers from Shaun Hill.

Draft at Fools Gold for their Hill Farmstead event, 2/20/16.
Dark brown color. Lots of coffee and roast with a bit of spice. Vanilla sweetness balances it out a bit. Fairly rich overall, but with an easy drinkingness to it as well that just really works. Nice mix of flavors, really good feel. Just a very tasty and enjoyable beer.