Carnegie Stark Porter

Brewed by Carlsberg Sverige
Style: Porter
Falkenberg, Sweden

(br-btl bk/cm-lbl, "Argang 2004, Grundat 1836, Korkstampel", 5.5%)

opq-bk, thin-br-head, §co2, ^creamy.

aroma: §bready §malt §cherry-coke.

sweet-malt T1, chclt-malt floral-leafy-hop T2, §burnt-toast T3, §astringent Tf.
perfect balance and texture, ^drinkable and ^sessionable.

0.5l - Dark brown liquid with a small dark tan head. Malthouse aromas dominate, with some baked bread in back. Good front with hops and cocoa lingering at end. The middle was watery, not distracting but not adding anything either. OK

2006 bottle enjoyed 11.27.09. Pours near black with a slight red hue, thin but creamy frothy cream colored head. Aroma is sweet rich and grassy, smooth rich chocolate malt oxidation, hay, some buttery fullness, fairly English, faintest hint of fruitiness, cookie dough. Flavor is fairly fruity, oily, grassy, some bitter chocolate finishing with coffee, fair amount of diacetyl, sweet, rich. fruity. Medium bodied but thin feeling, oily with chunky bubbly carbonation.

Very good looking beer, particularly for a porter with a few years on it. Black liquid with a nice foamy head and plenty of lacing. Interesting smell. It’s probably a bit weaker but more complex now than it was fresh. There are notes of sweet stone fruit and roasted malt. The taste is sweet, roasty and fruity. The flavor is exceptionally well-melded and balanced. Good bitterness, not too sweet. Creamy and smooth. I was expecting disappointment but received just the opposite.

2009 vintage. Dark brown with a tanned head that settles into some lacings. Aromas of smooth malts, rye bread, caramel and notes of vinous fruits. A hint of coffee. The taste is somewhat mild and restrained, but rather good. The taste is mostly sweet with bready malts to the fore. Notes of vinous fruits, wood and a hint of coffee. Faint note of chocolate. The finish is rather short with a minimal bitterness, mineral notes, wood and malty sweetness. Medium body. The carbonation is of the sort you most often find in mass produced fizzy lagers. D: This is a good beer, but no more. I like the vinous and fruity character it showcases. But it’s kind of restrained, both in terms of aromas and flavors, and it lacks complexity, and in my opinion, its reputation as one of the best porters in the world is greatly exaggerated. Perhaps it once was, but the way the brewery has treated this classic beer during the last decade is embarrassing. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Bottle at Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival. Dark ruby red with tan head. Aroma of roasted malt and toffee. Taste of more roasted malt, dark chocolate, and sweet fruity notes.

Bottle. Creamy lightbrown good mostly lasting head. Dark ruby almost black colour. Heavy malty and light hoppy aroma. Roasted and burnt notes. Moderate bitter very burnt flavor. Lacks chocolate. AVerage mdoearte almost harsh bitter finish. Oily palate. Not a very good porter.

Årgang 2007. Very dark ruby appearing black with a thinning, tenacious beige collar. Dark dark cherry on rye bread aroma; fruit cake, prunes, thinly spread Marmite, wax jacket, a faint dusting of roast. No small amount of alcohol on the palate, but with the richness of body to carry it off; thick doppelbock-like wholemeal and rye bread malts, black cherries, prunes, gentle burnt toastiness buried in silk. Altogether more like a doppelbock than anything Baltic I’ve had before. Rich, enveloping and impressive at the strength. Winner.