Arbor Milestone Cask Porter

Brewed by Arbor Brewing Company Pub & Eatery
Style: Porter
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

Absolutely excellent porter. Extremely complex, strong, and tasty. Great smoky roasted flavor.

Arbor Brewing Company’s porter on cask is absolutely terrific. Very bold with strong roasted malt overtones. Beautiful maltiness and some alcohol warmth. A great beer for cold Michigan winters. Ask for a taster which the staff will happily deliver.

Sampled on cask @ Arbor Brewing Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. How coincidental that I find a beer called Milestone and sample it for a true milestone, rating # 1000. Black color with brown highlights. Aromatically goes where I never thought a porter could possibly go. The softest fudge, with cocoa, raisins, chocolate and coffee, truly deserving a perfect score for aroma. Layers of decadence upon tasting with the full and creamy body only intensifying the beautiful range of malt flavors. Chocolate, espresso and raisins were just the beginning. Want to taste a world class porter? Travel to Ann Arbor. It’s that simple. The best porter I’ve ever tasted. One that should inspire all others.

cask-conditioned: Deep walnut. Puttylike mocha foam with wonderful lacework. Delicate, but immensely complex, aroma emits coffee, caramel, and roasted barley. Slightly airy, as well, with subtle notes of anise, cookie dough, and earthy hops. Creamy, silky carbonation. Soothingly malty fusion of leather and chocolate. Gritty baker’s chocolate texture is kissed with roasted malt, vanilla, and caramel. Forceful fudgelike thickness strengthens the body as a dried plum twang slowly creeps in. Finishes lengthy and intense with chalky, highly kilned malts interwoven with caramel and coffee. Highly impressive.

RERATE - The more time passes from my years in Ann Arbor, the more my appreciation for ABC grows. Absences and fonder hearts and all that. But this revisitation isn’t all nostalgia. I do believe that this is now a better made beer, or at least I have a better informed palate. The rich, hearty complexity of this thing takes no prisoners. It’s a loud, cheerfully roasty porter that calls to mind a good oak fire in autumn and rich well doctored Irish coffee. Original rating 8/14/2001 (3.8) Strong, even for a porter, with a heavy roasted flavor.

I loved it. Had it on cask at the brewery. Beautiful tan head. Rich roasted flavor and caramel. I should of taken more notes. Excellent. re rate 2008 A tad thinner and the finsih was just a tad weaker. Still great though.

Tap. Deep black color. No head, could be sitting to long in a pitcher. Very rich malty aroma. Smooth, like silk. Very rich in malty taste. Hop balance is present. Really a fine porter!!!!

Handpull at the brewery: Thick creamy head. I would say this porter is somewhere in the middle third of sweetness. A little bit more so on the roasty side. The first beer I’ve had from this brewery, but certainly not the last.