Near black. Fairly strong aroma with roast and a bit of chocolate and coffee. Smooth, full maltiness. Quite roasty as porters go but with smooth chocolate richness to back it up. Finishes quite dry.

Draught at the brewpub. Black, brief head. Aroma of mildly roasted coffee. Dryish with fairly light body and clean, rounded mouthfeel. There are notes of aniseed and some other stuff, but the lack of malt softness doesn’t allow me to pick up the more subtle flavours. Medium bitterness.

Leftover from the Chicago Real Ale Dinner at Rock Bottom Chicago. Yes, I broke my Lenten abstenence from beer just for the Real Ale Fest. A dark brown, almost murky body beneath a bubbly, clingy brown head. Smell is enchanting. Has an appropriately "cask" mouthfeel, low carbonation. Slight roast coffee notes among the roasted malts, and a bit peppery and smoky. Would have thought this was low in alcohol, but the second one the bartender gave me knocked me over. Not extreme in the Edmund Fitzgerald sense, but pleasant.