750 ml bottle into tulip glass, best before 5/23/2015. Pours clear very dark brown color with a 2 finger dense khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of big milk chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, toast, biscuit, toffee, dark bread, coffee, clove, oak, light nuttiness, peat smoke, raisin, and roasted earthiness. Incredible aromas with big complexity and balance of dark/roasted notes with moderate oak/smoke presence; and good strength. Taste of milk chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, toast, toffee, biscuit, coffee, dark bread, clove, oak, light nuttiness, floral, light smoke, and roasted earthiness. Lingering notes of chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, toast, toffee, dark bread, coffee, oak, and roasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Damn nice complexity and balance of roasted/dark malt flavors with moderate barrel presence; with great robustness and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very creamy and lightly slick mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a highly excellent oak aged Baltic porter! All around great complexity and robustness of dark/roasted flavors with moderate oak presence; and very smooth to sip on. A highly enjoyable offering.

Pours a fairly dark brown. Looks black from the side view of my full glass, but color is evident when looking down into the beer. I can’t see any cloudiness, but it’s hard to tell. Smallish light brown head. Good lacing. Aroma is a mix of caramel, cocoa, roast and a complex barrel character. The base beer is rich and full of toasty and roasty malt flavors. There’s a big coffee note on a sweet background of gooey caramel and treacle. The scotch barrel is strong and carries a punch of wood, smoke, brine and booze. I’ve tried a couple Octomore expressions and enjoy that peaty beast of a whisky, but your mileage may vary on this beer if you’re not a fan of Islay peat. The brine and smoke are just lovely. It’s a shame that more beers don’t get to see scotch barrels. The beer tastes similarly. Lots of roast, peat smoke, coffee, brine, molasses, and chocolate. It also adds in some dark malt fruitiness. The barrel comes through clearly and helps to dry out the sweeter side of the beer. Smooth mouthfeel. Low-ish carbonation, though pretty normal for a strong porter, particularly an English one. Lingering aftertaste of coffee, cocoa and peat. Very nice beer. Meantime is an excellent brewer, and it’s great to find a both a good strong English porter and a good scotch-barrel aged beer. Over time, I imagine the barrel flavor would recede a bit and more of those fruity dark malt flavors would come out.