Bottle. Almost clear brown color, short frothy head. Aroma of minty chocolate, butterscotch and candied orange peel. Like pralines, with amaretto liqour. More roast in taste and dark bread, bit sharp and dry roast. Also some bitterness from the orange peel. Interesting. --- Beer merged from original tick of Night Rain on 16 Jan 2018 at 23:10 - Score: 7

Bottle @ Home. Pours very dark brown with a tan head, light lacings. Aroma of sweet roasted malt, sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, little dried dark fruit. Flavor is sweet, roast malt, chocolate, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, dried fruit. Medium body, soft to average carbonation, sweet and light bitter finish. 231217

Bottle from the sadly now closed Worldwide Alcohol, Chelmsford. Bottle as Night Train. Pours very dark brown with a lasting beige head. Aroma of milk chocolate, roasted coffee, malt, dark fruits, caramel, wood, molasses and hint of rum. Medium plus sweetness, medium roasted bitterness. full bodied, slick texture, very soft carbonation. Very good.

American robust porter from a craft brewery in Wisconsin "fighting against boring beer", unknown to me until today. Medium thick, 'membranously' lacing, moussy and creamy, pale greyish beige, stable head, slowly showing a few 'holes' here and there minutes after pouring but in all very well-retaining, over a clear, utterly dark burgundy brown beer - in fact as good as black, but still with a ruby red hue visible under bright light. Aroma of a lot of cold espresso and coffee grounds, liquorice, warm game stock, something sweaty (worn-out leather jacket, even actual sourish stale sweat), walnuts, overripe and mushy black olives, burnt toast, toffee, chestnut, dates, fried black trumpet mushrooms and fried black pudding, melting butterscotch, hints of iron-like clotted blood, cold tomato soup, acorn shells, wet dog, bayleaf. Only restrained 'dried peach'- and vaguely fig-like sweetishness in the onset, clean, with the beefy and mushroom-ish umami factor (already apparent in the nose) coming up quite explicitly, more so than any sweetness really, with that typical roasted barley sourishness running beneath it; carbonation remains very soft, mouthfeel is oily and a bit greasy, of a thickness perhaps just a bit below what one would expect from a 7% ABV porter. Hard butterscotch-like maltiness does provide a bit more sweetness in the middle, quickly turning very (wal-)nutty and, also quickly following, roasted bitter, with a bitter black coffee-like effect in the end, mouth-filling and eventually supported by a generously spicy 'American'-dosed hop bitterness, wiping out whatever little sweetness that was there in the first place; a notably metallic 'feeling' lingers at the edges. The roasted bitterness and the outspoken umami flavours combined lend the whole a somewhat smoky effect, though this is definitely not a smoked porter; alcohol provides a subtle warmth after swallowing but does not become too explicit at all. Bitter toasty and roasted maltiness dominates in the end, with a softening nutty core and a thin liquorice-like effect at its sides. Your basic modern-era 'Americanized' robust porter, perhaps already a bit outdated in this day and age, a bit reminiscent of pioneering beers like Sierra Nevada Porter or Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, yet distinctive in its very strong beef broth-like meaty umami profile, perhaps a tad too strong for its own good; some vague off-flavours as well. And very roasted bitter of course, to the extent that it could just as easily be sold as a stout (certainly here in old Europe), but this rather pointless discussion has been done to death by now so let's not go into that here. Whatever the case: nothing overly exceptional within the rich American craft beer context, but well-functioning and satisfying enough, I can imagine myself using this gastronomically as an ingredient in a gravy to serve with venison, for example - and in that sense, this beer fits this time of the year perfectly, which probably influences my score positively. I can imagine this performing well under bourbon barrel aging, as apparently there are a lot of variations made of it having undergone that tried-and-tested treatment.

Bottle. Creamy lightbrown good mostly lasting head. Black colour. Heavy malty and moderate hopy aroma. Chocolate notes. Moderate bitter flavor. Roasted. Average moderate bitter finish. Creamy palate. Nice.

Bottle, 0.355l. Pours pitch black with thin creamy light brown head. Aroma of chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, licorice, grass and dried fruit. Taste starts with light sweet and rich roasted malt, follows by licorice and coffee, mouthfeel is mild spicy, while finish is light bitter. Medium to full body, thin creamy texture and average carbonation in palate. O'so happy, cause today I found new beer, it's in my glass. O'so thirsty, but that's ok, cause so are you - by Beervana :)

Bottle 12fl.oz. @ [ Chriso’s pre- Xmas Tasting 2015 ] - Chris and Ruth's House, London. [ As O'so Night Rain Porter ].Clear dark brown colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, chocolate, dark malt, wood. Flavor is moderate to light light heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a long duration, chocolate, dark malt, wood. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20151206] 7-3-7-3-14

Rating No.7900
Bottled 355ml. -from Beergium. Dark brown to black coloured, medium sized brownish head, mild chocolate nose. Light roasted malt, coffee, milk chocolate and caramel with touch of cocoa powder. Dry finish and light bitterness. Pleasant one. No ABV stated on the label.

Bottle at nicks... Dark black.. Small tan head.. Soft sweet toffee.. Caramel toffee roast malts nose.. Soft sweet toffee. Dry toffee chocolate roast malts.. Dry chocolate roast malts