500 ml bottle into tulip glass, no bottle dating. Pours hazy reddish orange color with a small 1 finger fairly dense off white head with decent retention that reduces to a ring of lacing. Minimal lacing on the glass. Aromas of caramel, toasted malt, biscuit, chocolate, apricot, plum, light fruits, herbal hops, and a touch of alcohol. Interesting aromas with good strength. Taste of apricot, plum, biscuit, toasted malt, caramel, molasses, light chocolate, and herbal hops. Very dry on the finish; with slight lingering notes of light fruit, toasted malt, caramel, and herbal hops for an instant. Good amount of flavor, but quite a bit uninteresting. Medium carbonation and body; with a fairly creamy and slick mouthfeel. Alcohol is very well hidden with no warming noticed at all. Overall this is an ok beer. Not really offensive at all, just really uninteresting and slightly bland. Definitely does not fit the porter style advertised on the label.

500ml bottle. Glowing orange-copper color. Steady, creamy beige head. The aroma is not outright bad, but I fear what lies beneath. Hmm..not unreasonable. Sort of like an Baltic Amber, if you can dig it. Thick sugary tones, some odd malt liquor like fruitiness. Finishes a lot smoother than most of it’s Eastern European Strong Ale contemporaries. Toffee nutmeg chocolate tones, quite syrupy and extracty feeling. Sort of like a budget factory Doppelbock at times. Surprisingly not horrendous.

Bottle from Malt & Vine. Pours ruddy copper with a foamy 4 finger beige head. Aroma is sort of dark malt. Maybe a fruit touch. Medium body with foamy carbonation - it quickly thins a bit as the carbonation leaves. It’s lightly malty and lightly fruity, then something strong seizes the mouth - like a combo of heat, metal and herb hop. Several essays suggest a mild astringency. Very unusual. Euro strong lager seems a more likely style. Light baltic porter could work too!