Baltika 6 Porter

Brewed by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Style: Baltic Porter
St. Petersburg, Russia

Sampled at From The Vine monthly beer tasting Oct 13th, 2003: Clear dark brown with a thin beige head. Light aroma of coffee and malt. Medium body with a mild roasted coffee/malt flavor and a lightly bitter finish. Not bad but nothing memorable about this one.

Sweet candied malt aroma, with some chocolate, and a hint of licorice. Deep brown, red at the edges, smallish toffee head. Sweet smoke, and peat flavours, also licorice and treacle. Bitter, full bodied, a bold offering.

500ml bottle from a superstore in Арха́нг&# Russia (thanks to Per-Einar). Pours a body black as pitch under a huge brownish head with lots of bubbles blanketing the glass. Rounded aroma of dark malts. Quite well made brew with malty keenness and roasted barley. Some hints of anise and chocolate break through in a long flavoured tail. Good and lasting mouthfeel (23.03.2007).

Ya gotta love how Baltika numbers all of its beers - it allows me to easily remember which ones I’ve had so far (3,4,6 & 9 if your keeping score at home). A strong, fairly sweet porter that perhaps lacks a little complexity. Raisins, yes.

,5L. Pours dark brown with a massive, diminishing tan head. Super-chocolatey nose, with some dust. High-carb medium body (a little fizzy, actually, but it’s come a long way). Chocolatey, roasty, biscuity palate with a very mild floral hop finish--almost free of bitter by pacific northwest standards. Very delicious drinkable beer.

Clear dark brown with a dense rocky light brown head. Chocolate and raisin aroma. Chocolate is the dominant flavour, rounded out by a sherry-like quality, some rummy fruit-cake tones as well. Medium bodied, medium sweetness, mildly bitter. Flavourful and delicious, but I don’t have the luxury of experience to compare to any other baltics.

0.5L bottle pours dark brown-ness with tall froth tan head and nice lacing. The aroma seems roasty at first with an edge of astringency. Then it becomes sweeter cut with mild burnt malts. As I dig a little deeper into the nose I get some dark fruity esters and faint chocolate malts. First impression is the flavor is just flat out nice. It hits with a bit of roastiness, malt sweetness molasses and burn malts. Then faint malt astringency appears before mild dark fruity esters and chocolate malts arrive to usher the taste toward the finish. It ends roasty, semi sweet and burnt.

Rich black beer with frothy thick lasting tan head. Lots of toasted malt and molasses, very masculine aromas. Soft, caressing mouthfeel like a sincere kiss. Lingering flavors of caramelized walnuts, balsamic, and Turkish coffee. Quite pleasant, but more muscle than it needs.