Barley Johns Old Eight Porter

Brewed by Barley Johns Brew Pub
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
New Brighton, Minnesota USA

On tap at Barley Johns on 05/26/2009. Dark black body with a medium creamy light brown head. Roasty chocolate aroma with some bitterness. Sweet roast, caramel and chocolate flavor. Medium light body with moderately high carbonation.

A very interesting beer. Served cold from tap and initially had no aroma. Initial flavor was of a simple, easy drinking porter. As warmed, more and more coffee, some sweet chocolate and burnt wood came out in the aroma and flavor became more complex. I waited so long for it to warm that I end up late and had to run without really savoring. Must try again. Why not a growler with friends?

Winterfest 2009 - Pours a deep dark brown with a fluffy tan head. The nose consisted of heavily roasted chocolate and coffee. Comes across the palate as charred malts, strong coffee, chocolate, caramel, and some alcohol. A relatively light porter.

Bottle generously shared with Sparky27. Eric, you da man!!! I’ve never smelled anything quite as sublime as this in a beer. I inhaled deeply, my nostrils filling with Hershey’s milk chocolate, Nestle Quik, and Cocoa Puffs. Also present were Kona, Columbian, and Brazilian coffee beans; dark and heavily roasted. The aroma was truly heavenly. This was onyx in color with a small caramel colored head that left without lacing the glass. Extremely charred, ashy flavor...like a s’mores by the campfire. Might have lost a little because it was hand bottled but still a DAMN FINE BEER!!!

Hand bottle courtesy of Guerde – thanks Andy! Pours a pitch black with minimal tan head that fades into a ring around the glass. The nose is decadent chocolate, roasted coffee beans and toasted malt. The taste is charred malt, burnt coffee, ashy cocoa and light hops in the finish. Medium, semi-creamy mouth feel. Very good porter. Thanks again Andy!

In short: A smooth creamy chocolaty porter. Nothing groundbreaking but this is an above average example of the style.
How: Hand-bottle from MatSciGuy. Huge thanks Levi for this special treat. Consumed fresh a week after receiving it.
The look: Black body topped by a small tan head
In long: The very nice nose is heavily focussed black coffee with some chocolate cake in the back. In mouth it’s the other way around with the black cake dominating the roasted coffee beans. The smooth and round rich chocolaty maltiness is really more akin to a chocolate cake than pure bitter black chocolate. Low hops presence. The high roastiness develops into astrigency. The body was a bit lifeless but I’m not gonna take away any points since I was drinking from a homemade hand-bottled that had travelled from Minnesota to Montreal. This was an unexpected nice surprise to get this hand-bottle out of the blue that I couldn’t get otherwise since I’m never out of the blue, I’m always in the red.

Pours a syruppy black from the tap at the brewery with a trim brown head. Smells of brown sugar with a woody taste that features bakers cocoa and mild smoke. Earthy for a porter. Hops are all over the front of the palate. Watery sap and barley also seem present.

Hand Bottle at home ... thanks to Stine and BDR for this ... deep black light tan head ... very soft ... light carbonation (but it is a hand bottle) ... light toasted oat and roast malt nose ... big chocolate smootrh soft roast ... light coffee light biterness ... good body ... for me much better than the DKR.