2003 bottle. Aged some 16+ months. I opened this one and let it breath a good 8 hours before decanting. I really feel this helped. Pours a lovely transluscent oily brown. Lots of olive-brown tinges, light mahogany tones and some dark oak colors swirling around. Bottle conditioned, good off-white head and lacing. Aroma of light roast coffee, hints of chocolate and plenty of yeast! Flavor at first had me hating this beer, but I stuck with it and it became exceptionally unique. It starts out with a huge yeastiness that combines with the rich roastiness to really knock you back. Only a touch of coffee and sweetness. The typical wininess you get from Cisco to compound the already peculiar taste and you’ve got yourself one strange beer. But as it sits and breathes and I drink more; wow, this is a real porter. Medium light body, yeastiness and mustiness of an old ale, with nuts, light tofee and only a touch of sweetness. This is one hell of an authentic English porter! Wow, after it’s evened out and your palate gets used to it, you can just drink it right down. Hints of light coffee on the finish, good roasted barley, vinousness and of course a touch of black malt, but it’s all mixed well for a wonderful vintage effect. A true porter of old with plenty pleasing complexities. This isnt just a light caramelly Stegmaier or moderately chocolatey, thin Yuengling, this stuff has tons of character and tons of flavor. Outstanding. 7/5/8/5/18
2005 bottle Yet again, a perfect poor, dark chestnut brown, with crimson and violet tinges, head retained to perpetuity, lacing and unfiltered. In fact, I let the bottle breathe overnight and the next morning, there was still head in the bottle! Aroma of prunes, vinousness, raisins, rich earthy barley soaked in Burton water. Toffee, bakers chocolate, yeast, just lovely. Flavor is more of the same, bakers chocolate, earthy yeast, baked brown bread, raisins, prunes, concord grapes, barley and coffee on the end. Medium-full body, no wateriness, natural carbonation (let it breath!). Simply stunning, I am raising my rating. 9/5/9/5/19

A pitch black beer with a huge chocolate brown head. The aroma is lovely sweet with notes of chocolate. The flavor is sweet with notes of chocolate, some burnt notes, and hints of coffee, leading up to a dry end. Wonderful.

Stout-like darkness, large head of medium-sized bubbles that shrinks quickly, leaving a decent lacing - wonderfully inviting aroma of cocoa, brown sugar, maybe even some plums - flavor is quite similar to Fuller's London Porter - lots of coffee and chocolate, with a slight bitterness throughout to compliment both of these flavors - high carbonation gives a tingly mouthfeel - creamy despite this high carbonation - some cookie/doughy flavors - a world-class porter.

Very very good. Not really a porter, but a stout: strong firm body, plenty of malt and alcohol, definite roasted barley flavors. Rich and chocolatey - really a nice flavor. The main drawback for me was that it was over-carbonated. I had to pour with extra care - I kept having overflows with each pour nevertheless (it came in a big champagne bottle). Mouthfeel was noticeably fizzy - I could go for something a bit smoother. Nice chocolate and roasted aroma. Very dark to black color with tan head.