Black Boss Porter 9.4%

Brewed by BOSS Browar Witnica
Style: Baltic Porter
Witnica, Poland

500ml bottle. Certainly a scary one. Crazy eastern European dunkel chocolate and sugar aroma. Basically seems like they added extreme amounts of sugar to the mash. Pretty gross, some pungent chocolate syrup, wreaking of artificiality. Some sweet butterscotch caramel tones in the finish. An awkward, crappy beer...and I typically like Baltic Porters.

The pour was a bit thin for a porter with such a great smell. Roasty, chocolate, and coffee came to mind while drinking this brew. The taste was similar with a hint of coffee and vanilla. Not bad, just not great. I really wish it was thicker for the mouthfeel.

2009 Bottle - Pours thin for the abv with a small off white head...aroma is full of roasty chocolate and grain, sweet sugar, some plumy notes...flavour is similar, grainy cocoa, some roasted malt and molassas as well...comes across a bit thin at the end for the taste and alcohol present, I paid $1.90 for this 500mL bottle, so it far exceeded my expectations!

500. Pours black. Dense, creamy, billowing tan head that falls quickly to sloppy loose foam and dense sheets of tan lace. Big roasty sweet milk chocolate nose, a little bit of coffee and malt sugar lurking around the edges there. Creamy medium body with soft carb. Chocolatey mid-palate, again with bits of coffee, malt sugar, and now bits of roast knocking around. Mild earthy finish. Nice, if a bit unspectacular....the amount of flavor here for 9.4 is really a waste of potential, harmonious though it be.

Aroma of dark chocolate, sweeter dark malts - dark fruit. A little roast/coffee. Pours dark brown almost black, thin ring around the edge of the glass. A good deal of dark chocolate- both sweet and bitter. Dark fruit shows up and some dry roasted notes in the back end. Light bodied and a crisp clean-ish finish. A touch of booze in the end.

Pours dark black with little to no head. Aromas of bitter dark chocolate and cherries. Flavor was sweet with more chocolate, coffee and nice roasty notes. Overall a pretty good beer. Would pick it up again.

Picked up a single 500 ml bottle from Murray’s Wine & Spirits in Milwaukee, WI. Pours an opaque dark brown colored brew with a thick beige head that has some nice retention. Aroma of toasted dark malt, chocolate, coffee and some floral hops. Taste is full bodied, smooth, creamy with flavors of toasted dark malt, coffee, chocolate malt and a hint of caramel. Finish is semi-sweet, no bitterness with a soft chocolate and malt aftertaste. A pleasant surprise on this foreign porter.

Date: September 18, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Bottleworks, Seattle
Appearance: black, frothy beige head
Aroma: sweet chocolate aroma with lots of candy like dark caramel sweetness
Flavor: rich sweet chocolate flavor, lots of candy caramel sweetness, balancing rich chicolate, just a hint of rasted malt
Overall: what is it about Polish porters that do the big sweet chocolate so well?
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+ /4