Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

HopCat Royal Oak draught, 5/10/25.
Dark, clear. Small, dark beige head.
Pretty straightforward, chocolate-based character with mild roast, light fruitiness, no hop and clean yeast. Light base malt adds a bit of caramel-like character.
Clean, medium to medium-light bodied with some lightly sweet base malt creating milk chocolate and caramel like characters. Not overdone on the roast, but it's still there to balance.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Sampled from the tap at the brewery. Pours black with a light brown head that dissipates nearly completely. Aroma has chalky dark grains with roasted malts and a touch of earthiness. Flavor has earthy dark grains, chocolate and roasted malts with some chalk in the finish.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Keg at the brewery. Dark brown, thin fizzy tan head, poor retention. Aroma of chocolate, roast. Taste is roasted malt, coffee, chocolate. Thin.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, no bottle dating. Pours nearly opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark bread, herbal, wood, light dark fruit, and roast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, earthy hops, and light yeast ester notes; with solid strength. Taste of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark bread, herbal, wood, light dark fruit/nuttiness, and roast/toasted earthiness. Moderate herbal/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark bread, herbal, wood, light nuttiness, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, earthy hops, and light yeast ester flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from bitterness, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready, and lightly sticky/chalky balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.6%. Overall this is a very nice American porter. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, earthy hops, and light yeast ester flavors; very smooth and easy to drink. A very enjoyable and classic tasting style example.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Reviewed from notes.
The appearance had a deep dark brown color close to black with a bar pour’s kind of slim white head that didn’t leave any lacing.
The smell had a really nice roasty, dry coffee bean, some cocoa and an underlying nuttiness coating the malts that were there.
The taste was mainly the same with a slight roasty cocoa aftertaste that led to a dry finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fairly nice sessionability about it. The carbonation seemed good for the style and for me as it moved across my tongue in a fairly nice creamy to roasty texture.
Overall, this was a good Porter that I would have again.