Atwater Shamans Porter

Brewed by Atwater Block Brewery
Style: Baltic Porter
Detroit, Michigan USA

Pours near black with reddish hues and a mostly receding tan head. Aroma of foamy roast, toffee, cherry, and cardboard. Taste is cherry, soft roast, no astringency, cardboard, and light chocolate. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with lush carbonation. Not too impressed with the Atwater beers.

Bottled. Poured medium-deep brown with a short, fizzy cap of medium brown head. The aroma picked up lots of sour lactic notes and fruit skins.. chocolate was supposed to be prominent, but it was heavily suppressed.. not as offensive as the drinking it part. The drinking it part sucked.. sour milky notes and dark fruit skins dominate, and it doesn’t seem like I have the first infected bottle.. some chocolate and caramel deep down, but beyond the point where it really matters.. sour lactic finish. Sour and less than medium-bodied on the palate.. ugly feel.. not good.

12 oz bottle. Dark walnut pour with light brown head. Sour aroma (kind of lactic) with hints of licorice and burnt malt/wood. Not a t all pleasant. The flavor is lightly sharp with roasted caramel notes. This is definitely a bit off. I wonder if the bottle was bad? Carbonated mouth feel and lightly dry. Nothing I’ll have again unless I know it is fresh.

Almost opaque black body with a creamy brown head. Bread dough, nuts, Dutch chocolate, stale coffe in the nose. Medium body with smooth feel. The flavor was unappealing. Too much bitterness.

From a 12 oz. bottle, no freshness date, a short blurb on the label, sampled at cellar temperature in a pint glass. Poured an opaque blackish brown with a frothy, rocky brown head, decent retention, small amount of laced sticking. Fructose, sour lactic nose, a very light maltiness at the edges, mainly chocolate. No balance in the aroma, even if you want to call this a Baltic, too sour and fruity, the malts are buried. More carbonation than I like in a porter and the body is too thin and light, no creaminess, no chewy malts, a bland mouthfeel. I’m disappointed with the taste as well, weak, wet and thin maltiness, traces of milk chocolate and stale coffee, sour lactic with a watery acidity, more fructose than fruity, I guess the German hops could be that slight medicinal flavor I taste towards the end, and a fructose, thin, watery maltiness in the finish. None of that dry roasted malty bitterness you find in a good porter, just very disappointing all around. This porter was a waste of my time and taste buds, I’m feeling stupid for buying a six of this when it was also in the singles rack. Try a bottle before committing to six.

12 oz bottle from Riar Tuck in Peoria. Baltic you say? I had no idea. Pours brown black with a tan head. Nose of coca and nuts with hints of raisin. Fizzy palate. Cola, figs, coffee, nuts, lightly sweet with a bitter chocolate finish. Meh.

Bottle courtesy of Duane, not sure of the age: Pours a nearly opaque with dark brown edges and a thin froth of dark tan head. Aroma of sweet dark caramel and roasted malts with a touch of light fruity tartness. Starts lightly sweet and chocolatey but has a fruity tartness that points to an infection, although it seems fairly subtle. Finishes drier and roasty with some lingering dark chocolate and a hint of acidity. Without an infection, this would be a pretty good porter.

Pours rich healthy tan head, black in color. Very chocolatety with coffee in the mix. This porter has a nice full chocolate taste. Rich mouth feel with a good amount of carbonation, but not overbearing. No bitter ending. What a fine porter. This beer is full flavor, but not over powering or syrupy. Very well crafted. Billed a smooth, enjoyable and it is!. I’ll get this porter again.