Asda Whitechapel Porter

Brewed by Shepherd Neame
Style: Porter
Faversham, England

Bottle 500ml.
Clear dark red brown color with a average to large, frothy to creamy, good lacing, mostly lasting, light beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, burnt, caramel, chocolate, soap. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20090808]

Bottled. Amber colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is toffee, some earth, mild caramel, wooden and quite flowery hoppy notes. Flavour is quite the same. Also some nutty and chocolateish notes.

Bottled (at Chriso, BB 07/2010). Dark nut brown, steady creamy beige head. Dark wood, some dark malts in the nose. Light coffee, some mentol-fruity hops, roasted. Toasted finish. This is also very Shep Neamish. Not bad, but not the most interesting English-style Porter either.

Bottle from Asda. Dark ruby colour with thin tan head. Nice dark fruit aromas bit of bitter choc in mouth with black cherry and blackberry. Really nice dark beer, Finish is just a tad short

A Mes rate: First of I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this. Selected by Asda? What the funk do they know? But ahh well it’s a Shepherd Neame so they do at least know something! Not sure how porterish this is but its fairly decent. Aroma is faint but tasty, sweet roasted malts being the order of the day. The nose is really quite good actually but its always hard to rate something that is not on point style wise. Appearance is just how I like it, reddish black and virtually opaque. Head is just a slight covering but at least it doesnt vanish completely. Flavour wise its just one dimensional. Sweet roasted malts, not as much bitterness as you would think and a dollop of creamy chocolate. It has that typical Shepherd Neame stickyness to the finish which I don’t really care for but whatever, I enjoyed this bottle and it slipped down very easily.

Aroma seems a bit bland to start with however becomes smokey and maybe liquice. Taste is a bit fuller with the roasted malt having pritty much all the say, but you get a hint of grassy hops also.

Bottled, pasteurised, 500ml. Dark brown with red hue, short lasting head. Thinner than expected with a restrained mix of flavour. There is some sharp nuttiness with an earthy dark roasted malt note, but there is also a metallic note going on. Fruity at the finish, quite short, quite drying. Overall a beer thats reasonable, just not great.

500ml bottle from Asda. Stronger than Shep’s own porter. It would be interesting to compare the two but its not really fair to set a pasteurised bottled porter to a fresh cask one. Very dark reddish brown colour. Roasty aroma with lots of licorice. Dry, toasty malt on the palate with a gentle bitterness and a sweet edge. There’s a hint of cocoa powder in there too. Quite nice balance. Decent enough, but fails to excite.