Back Road Autumn Ale 2005 (Baltic Porter)

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

Pours dark brown with a tan head. Smells of cherries, licorice, chocolate, some dark fruity hints. Tastes lightly tarte and chocolatey with some spicey elements, dark fruit, earthy. Enjoyable.

Sampled at Argo and Kathy’s 2006 Holiday Gathering courtesy of BBB63. Pours black with a brown head and ruby edges. Aroma of chocolate and pear. Flavor has notes of caramel, wood, pipe tobacco, chocolate. Pleasantly sweet with ample bitterness. Full, round and creamy on the palate. Excellent.

Thanks so much to Tom for this one, you certainly didn’t have to leave it at my house! 22oz bottle. Served at 59° in an english pint glass. Nearly black with some red tint and the edges and a nearly non-existant, hazy, head. Smells like a true baltic porter, roasty with some buttermilk-ish sourness. Aroma also is nutty with coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Smells great. Mouthfeel is initially large and creamy. The initial taste is dark malt, cream, and mocha followed by a rush of very dark roasted malt, smoke, buttermilk, and bright citrusy hops that counter balance this extremely roasty flavor. The finish is above average bitterness and some more roastiness. Smooth, full body that finishes easy. This is a very easy drinking 8.5% beer, not too thick or overpowering, but packed with a ton of flavor. Very tasty.

Bottle... A&K’s4thAHBT... This beer rocks!... Pitch black ale with a mid-sized, creamy, khaki head. Vanilla, chestnuts, hazelnuts, butterscotch, cocoa and tobacco are all present and accounted for in the aroma. Rich, roasted flavor with plenty of caramel and chocolate... maybe a touch too thin for the style. Medium to full-bodied with a lightly creamy mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Finishes chocolatey and a bit dry. World class brew!... and, btw, bucknaked rocks!

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 black with thin tan head. Aroma is of crisp green apple, chocolate, and a cold coffee. Flavor is bitter coffee, ash, tobacco. Medium body. Rich but drinkable.

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!

Guess who this came from. Black body, thin tan head. Estery, smokey aroma with chewey dark chocoalte. Bitter chocolate and apricot in the flavor with a bit of charred barley. Great flavor. Dry chocolate finish.