Bottle from State Line Liquors. Pours a clear dark brown color with a medium sized frothy tan head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of chocolate and caramel with some oxidation signs. The taste is roasted malts, tobacco, tart fruits, chocolate, coffee and some oxidation notes. Medium bodied. Not bad.

7th January 2008
Sumptuos and smooth. Malty with a pleasant sour fruit undertone. No bitterness or dryness.

Bottle, 12C. Dark reddish brown with 1 cm beige head.Good lacing. Aroma of prunes, licorice, dark toffee, figs. Moderately sweet and quite fruity with plums, vinegar toffee, chocolate. Mouthfilling but light-bodied verging upon watery, very obviously pasteurised. Very slight roasted flavour. Hoppy drying finish is quite refreshing.

Bottle from Selfridges. Pours dark brown with a light tan head. A little smoke and licorice in the taste.

Originally rated September 2004. Sampled from the 500ml brown bottle you see in the pictures above. Poured a coffee colour with orange-ruby highlights. The head was short lasting but the lacing was very nice. Aromas were of toffee and roasted malts. The taste was smoked mixed in with coffee and caramel. The start being sweet, but changing very fast into a bitter and then slight bitter, aftertaste. This porter goes down very well with its smooth mouthfeel and low carbonation. Very refreshing for this style of beer, and not too heavy.

Bottle at Commercial Tap House on 06/01/2010. Dark black body with a large rocky light brown head. Roast, light chocolate and burton water aroma. Burton water flavor with light roast and chocoalte. Light body with moderate carbonation.

Cask. Frothy fair mostly lasting head. Black colour. Heay malty and moderate hoppy aroma. More fruitynotes than roast really nice combination. Heavy bitter flavor. Some licorice notes. Long nice finish. Creamy palate. Excellent.

Old Growler pours a just barely translucent burnt umber to auburn (sorry, I just discovered wikipedia’s color entries) with a creamy tan head. The aroma has a strong caramel malt character. It’s quite sweet. Stone fruits. I’m not getting much of that normal ashy character that I enjoy in most porters, but it’s certainly not a bad beer. The aftertaste seems a touch off, but I can’t exactly say why. There are some funny English hops in there, but they certainly aren’t the stars. I had this beer marked higher (nearly across the board) after initially tasting it, but the sweetness is really wearing for me. My tongue is almost numb as I get to the last quarter of the beer. It’s an interesting beer and I’m glad that I tried it, but the first sip was way better than the last sip, and that doesn’t make me want to run out and get another.

Dark black pour with very small head. Strong malt smell. Mild porter taste. Rated 8/20/02

At Copenhagen Beerfestival, on May 8, 2010. Bottled.Clear dark brown color, tan head. Raissin, though thin, malty dry taste. Feels dusty and old/aged. Juniper berry, malty, sweet scent. Medium mouthfeel, medium bitterness.