Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

16 ounce prowler into pint glass, filled on 3/17/2019. Pours crystal clear nearly opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger dense and creamy khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of toffee, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts, cocoa nibs, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of toffee, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, char, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, woody, grassy, peppery hop; and roast/charred bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, dark/brown bread/crust, toffee, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, char, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, cocoa nibs, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/silky/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 5.9%. Overall this is an excellent chocolate English porter. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, cocoa nibs, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/charred/drying finish. Nicely soft feel, not overly bitter/charred. Very clean and rich English malt complexity and cocoa nib flavors; with great earthy hop presence/balance, and mild English yeast character. A very enjoyable offering, and impressive spot on style example.