Back Road Autumn Ale 2005 (Baltic Porter)

Formerly brewed at Back Road Brewery
Style: Baltic Porter
LaPorte, Indiana USA

Milwaukee YEHa!05, brought by Mr. Back Road himself, BBB63. He swears he doesn’t work there...seriously! Deep brown body, thin/medium beige head. Chocolatey aroma, with roasted malts, sweet, almost cloying Hershey’s syrup (similar to last year’s Christmas Ale in this regard, but lighter), Nesquick (maybe that’s a better comparison?), plum, and Grape dimetapp (medicinal). There’s a "house" character to this aroma. Big, roasty body, a bit dry and charred, with chocolate, licorice, and Hershey’s syrup. A bit rough on the palate. There’s a lot going on here, but it doesn’t quite come together.

Tosa YeHa ala BBB63. Very dark brown with a moderate tan head. Wow this is a lot like the XMas and after reading the XMas they even advertise it. Less coffee and smoke, but more roast qualities. Some hints of strong dark chocolate. More roasty than the strength I would like in this style. Another one I could enjoy, but not really embrace.

Nearly opaque but some cherry shines through when put to light. Otherwise, its color is a deep, midnight brown underneath tan sheets for the head. Milk chocolate rolls out the aroma red carpet, followed by a chocolate covered mixed bag of nuts, liquefied brown sugar and cinnamon icing and spicing taking me to memories stemming from Cinnabun. Subtle robustness gains flavor momentum throughout its progression, transitioning from a teetering milkiness to a dark chocolate, unsweetened scratch. Eventually, it’s (gratefully) futile to try shaking the flavor reminiscent of hot chocolate burning in the pot on the too hot electric stove top. Yeast strain is clearly one-of-a-kind, and might be partially responsible for imparting a tobacco and black earth dimension. Sharp synapse at the valley of the tongue, dancing with dark chocolate and cocoa beans. Thanks for bringing this one along, Mike!

Chalky, nutty chocolate aroma. Dark brown with a light brown head that thins. Roasty, chocolate and coffee with a grainy maltiness and some warming alcohol in the finish. Very chalky with a nice full body. Good porter. Thanks to BBB63 for <strike>promoting</strike> sharing this beer.

Thanks Mike! Pours to a deep black appearance with a tan head. The aroma is dry and roasty. Robust. Light tobacco and deep roasty malt. The flavor is dominated by a dry roasty mouthfeel and tobacco. deep roasty and dry mouthfeel. Coffee. Dark fruits. Dry charcoal. Thanks Mike!

dark black pour some small off white head w/ a great lacing. Smells of roasted malts hints of tobacco and a light bitterness. Full coated palate. A very roasty flavor, roasted malts some definate smoke a light tobacco and some light mint. Good stuff.

Bottle at Aaron and Kathy’s Holiday/YeHa Party on 12-3-05. Courtesy of BBB63. Very nice stuff here! Pours darkbrown to near black opaqueness. Nose is green apple, mint, alcohol, roasted malts, coffee, and a bit of pipe tobacco. Taste is sweet and roasty with woody notes, vanilla, caramel, molasses, coffee, smoke/tobacco, chocolate and dark fruit. Body is medium-full with light carbonation feel and a fine silky, creamy feel. Finishes with Thin Mints, bittersweet chocolate, coffee, roasty malts and light tobacco-ish notes. Very nice!

Pours witha huge two tone kahki and brown rocky head. Dark brown and opaque. A pretty non descript aroma, and it kind of burnt my nostrils. The flavor is full of characer. Milk chocolate, tobacco, wood, and a touch of roast character. I’m happy to say that alcohol play little into the character of this beer. Well, until it warms a bit. Then I get some burn. Plenty of bitterness. Velvety smooth. Not overly rich. Overall, a pleasure to drink. This brings me to my rant. There is nothing baltic about the beer. We really need to have a ROBUST porter style. Calling something baltic just because it has high alcohol is stupid.