Ale Asylum Contorter Porter

Brewed by Ale Asylum
Style: Porter
Madison, Wisconsin USA

Black as tar with a medium sized tan head than lasts a few minutes before fading to a ring. Aroma is roasted and sweet sorghum. Flavor is the same. It reminds of coffee with too much amaretto laced cream. Nice feel with some hopped zing effects. I hoped for better.

12 oz. bottle labeled as "Ale Asylum Contorter Porter." The name on this entry should be changed to reflect the marketed brand name of the beer. Consumed on 8-15-2008. Tarry, coffee-ish, milky burnt malt aroma. Pours dark brown with a small to moderate amount of dark beige / light tan head. Harsh, tarry taste at first. Settles, mellows, and improves upon multiple sips. Burnt plum pie and pecan pie taste. Whole milk or half-and-half flavor. Light to medium body. Boring and unremarkable in the palate. This is not my kind of porter. It’s of the simplistic, boring-at-best, off-putting-at-worst, tarry, overly coffee-ish variety that is all too common.

Pour is black with a creamy tan head. Good lacing. Aromas of coffee, and tobacco. Flavor is heavy on the tobacco, almost like ashes from a cigarette. This is not my kind of porter. When I taste this, it’s like I’ve been smoking a cigar or something. Weird.

Bottle. Pours black with a medium head. Strong malt aroma. Smooth and thick to the palate. Very nice malt flavor.

Pours black like coffee, slightly viscous with a tan head. Nose of dark chocolate, malt and rye bread. Nice carbonation with dark chocolate on the palate, fuller mouthfeel and a clean finish.

I thought this a good, but not great, porter. I got some defect in the aroma, and the mouthfeel is a bit thin, which is forgivable as I think my mouthfeel expectations have been shaped by Imperial Stouts and Baltic Porters, so it is entirely possible my mouthfeel expectations are unfair. Poured a deep black color, but appeared a bit thin. Head formed nicely, but didn’t last long. Aroma was very roasty with a significant mercaptan presence. Flavor is straight roastiness, and quite good. Mouthfeel was just a touch thin. I would recommend this beer. I bought this bottle at 3 Cellars in Franklin, WI.

Sampled at the brewery: Pours an opaque, black colour with aromas of espresso beans, dark chocolate and black licorice. Flavors of ak, slight smoke and dark roasted coffee beans.

Brown with medium tan head. Aroma of heavy roasted malts, coffee, licorice. Taste of chocolate, coffee, roasted malts. Creamy, watery, dry and a little syrupy.