Old Dark
Speight's Brewery in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand 🇳🇿
Porter Regular|
Score
6.17
|
|
If you’re looking for a beer with a big creamy flavour you’ve come to the right place.
5 malt old dark was introduced into the Speight’s range in 1992 to meet consumer demands for the classic ‘dark’ beer. No prizes for guessing why it got its name. By carefully selecting, roasting and matching 5 separate malts we have crafted a dark beer that gives rich, creamy, chocolate fudge flavours swiftly followed by coffee overtones. Perfect for warming the cockles on a stormy night.
Best drunk with some fine New Zealand cheeses or chocolate desserts.
5 malt old dark was introduced into the Speight’s range in 1992 to meet consumer demands for the classic ‘dark’ beer. No prizes for guessing why it got its name. By carefully selecting, roasting and matching 5 separate malts we have crafted a dark beer that gives rich, creamy, chocolate fudge flavours swiftly followed by coffee overtones. Perfect for warming the cockles on a stormy night.
Best drunk with some fine New Zealand cheeses or chocolate desserts.
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6.5/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6.5
Flavor 6.5
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle at the Drift Inn, near Geraldine. Dark brown with beige head. Malty, toasted caramel, moderate sweetness, watery.
Tried
from Bottle
at
Drift Inn
on 01 Apr 2025
at 22:00
5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Bottle. Dark brown with a pale beige head. Very little aroma - a bit of Milo and slight roast, I suppose. Sweet with brown sugar, bread, a little roast, plums, a little lick of spicy bitterness. It's very sweet but not quite as bland as it first appears. Let down by lack of aroma. A throwback.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Dec 2018
at 14:11
5.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Bottle at a hotel in Te Anau. An opaque chestnut pour with a beige head and good lacing; toasty aroma; rather thin in the mouth, with a caramel taste and over roasted grains adding a sharp bitterness; then a thin sweet finish. An insipid attempt at a porter.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Nov 2018
at 08:27
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle in Auckland. Backlog rating from bottle collection and historic scoring. No tasting notes kept, just rating.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Oct 2017
at 16:34
4.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 4.5
On tap at OGH. Aroma is a little sharp, some dried fruit. Taste is the same raisin notes with some coffee bitterness and a small herbal (rosemary?) twist. Perfectly drinkable, but nothing special.
Tried
from Draft
on 23 Sep 2016
at 00:29
5.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 6
Pint on tap. Faint peppery nose. Dark red/black beer with solid foamy white head. Flat mouthfeel. Taste is smoky malts with a dry fruity chocolate metallic finish. Easy to drink but like Tui Dark claims 5 malts but has no depth of flavour. Drinkable but boring.
Tried
from Draft
on 17 Sep 2016
at 23:37
8.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Nowozelandzki porter stworzony z 5 słodów. Zapach mało intensywny. Ale za to w smaku wyczuwa się wszystko co jest pożądane. Polecam
Tried
on 07 Oct 2012
at 11:41
5.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 4.5
9th September 2006
Warning! Early amateur rating! Bottle in Raratonga. No bitterness in this beer just a lot of dark malts. Okay.
Warning! Early amateur rating! Bottle in Raratonga. No bitterness in this beer just a lot of dark malts. Okay.
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Jan 2011
at 10:17
6.5/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 5
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
Medium yellowish beige creamy shiny ever-lasting head. Lovely deep red body with light carbonation. Light roasty caramelly aroma. Dry-sweetish fruity licorice and port taste with earthy roasty caramel notes. Mild mouthfeel. Faintly artificial. Dry roasty papery aftertaste with watery raisin notes. quite short. Quite nice. Could use more hops. (0.2l sampler, The Southerner, London.)
Tried
on 18 Jan 2009
at 05:48
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Draught. Very deep amber colour, small white head. ARoma is caramel malts, some bready notes, as well as saltwater. Flavour is raisins, sweet malts. Not very exciting, though it was the best of the ones at The Southerner in London for the moment of the Speights ones.
Tried
on 06 Aug 2008
at 04:18