Chelsea Baltic Porter

Brewed by Chelsea Brewing Company
Style: Baltic Porter
New York, New York USA

Cask at Mugs. Aroma is lots of cocoa and chocolate with a long lasting head. Flavor has plenty of roasted chocolate with a bit of grape jelly. Light hoppiness keeps it from being to sweet or dry. Good stuff.

Cask at Ginger Man. Pitch black with a thick creamy tan head. Sticky and very persistent. Aroma is quite roasty and cocoa laden. Rich dark chocolate and a bit of plumminess. Flavour is quite nice as well. More stout than BP though. It doesn’t really have that smooth lagered cleanness that defines the style for me. Quite herbal and the low carbonation lends it a very rich creamy body. Slight sweetness and a nice mocha/coffeeish flavour on the back. A lightly peppery ethanolic flavour toward the back but nothing that would come across as objectionable. It’s pretty nice though and welcome for the season.

Cask @ Barcade. Really good porter. Pours deep black. Aromas of roasted malts, chocolate. Flavor was extremely balanced. Loads of chocolate & malts. Not too boozy & the dried fruit flavor that IMO sometimes dominate a baltic porter was there but added a nice dimension instead of over powering. Really nice beer

Growler from Bowery Whole Foods: Pours dark, near black, some ruby comes through in the light with a creamy and dense khaki head. Nice chewy malt aroma. Only mild roast, with lots of rich chocolate character, a touch of raisin is there as well. Silk and creamy on the palate. Great mild carbonation. Nice malt character in the flavor as well. Oily, chocolaty, has an oat-like presence, toasted graham cracker. It has the richness of an Oatmeal Imperial Stout without the harsh roasted/burnt character. It also have an underlying raisin/grape-like note as it warms. The finish is smooth and mild bitterness and roast. Soft and clean, yet rich. Nice stuff.