Ale Asylum Contorter Porter

Brewed by Ale Asylum
Style: Porter
Madison, Wisconsin USA

12 oz bottle from Steve’s in WI. Pours a dark brown black with a tan creamy head. Old grain and roasted malts with a touch of molasses. Ashy watery roasted malt flavors. Decent flavors but really watery. With a thicker body and flavors, this could be really good. As it is, its quite lacking.

Little bit of chocolate in there. Some coffee. But overall, a bit thin and not as heavy as I like my porters. Still, there is a nice hoppy taste that lingers.

Pour is black with a thin tan head...smell is very very roasty and sweet...cocoa and chocolate syrup...taste is roasty and quite sweet...chocolate with faint hints of coffee in the finish...

Summary: Big roasty flavor, nicely balanced by hops at the front, gets slightly unbalanced in the finish. Aroma: Strong roast malt presence, also caramel, floral elements. Appearance: Dark, dark brown, nearly black. A fluorish of bubbles forms a finger of tan head, which dissipates soon, only spotty lace. Chunky pale sediment is slightly unappealing. Flavor: Strong roast malt presence lasts and lasts. Accompanied in the beginning by some citrus and floral hops, later on by chocolate undertones. Palate: Carbonation and hops are pleasantly prickly on the front, finishes dry, kind of ashy-chalky.

12oz bottle, no date from Steve’s Liquor. Ruby brown with a one finger beige head, fading to a thin film and thick ring before long. Aroma of roasted malts (almost bordering on char) and pine hops up front, with some light sweet caramel and floral hops in the background. Flavor has the roast presenting as more ashy with char, but the sweet caramel keeps it from detracting too much. Pine and floral hops are still present as well. Semi-dry finish with bitterness peaking around a 3 at the back corners of my tongue. Low carbonation with a thin, but smooth, body. A little less char and ash would make this a fine beer.

Very solid porter. Fantastic roasted malt aroma. The is intense roast malt with a bit of caramel, followed by a dry, lightly hopped finish. The head disappears almost immediately, and there’s a tad of watery cola quality to the body, but otherwise a fabulous beer.

Pours an extremely dark mahogany color with translucent, chestnut brown edges. A foamy, khaki colored head settles to a thin film with a prominent edge. Sticky, horizontal swaths of lacing mark the glass. Aromas include cocoa powder, lactose, roasted barley, and notes of creamed coffee. There’s an earthy, lightly grassy bitterness to the nose, as well. Flavors show roasty chocolate and mocha up front, with hints of dark fruits, earthy spice, and biting, grassy hops. A distinct nutty note lingers somewhere in the background, lending some complimentary depth. The palate is medium bodied, smooth, and moderately carbonated. Finishes slightly chalky. Overall, a pretty decent porter, but nothing special.

Bottle (Contorter Porter) and served in standard pint glass: Deep brown hue with a lasting creamy tan head and spotty lace. The aroma has notes of lactic milk chocolate, walnut and peanuts, roasted and coffee like mlats, some grassy hops too. The taste is twangy and roasty throughout with some dark fruit on top of light chocolate. The finish is ashy and burnt with a nice kick of grassy hops. The mouth feel is a bit better than the norm for the genre. Not too shabby in the end.