City Winter Porter

Brewed by City Brewery (Melanie Brewing Co)
Style: Porter
La Crosse, Wisconsin USA

Faint strawberry-chocolate aroma with a bit of malt and lots of hops. Has a nice deep-tan head and thick cola color. Flavor isn’t harsh, but surprisingly complex and thinner in body like many Old World porters. There are lots of hops up front and also a berry element (I suppose suggestively from the Commercial Description it could seem like black currant). Also the typical smoky malt porter flavor but more subdued than similar American counterparts. Finish is pleasantly bitter and smoky, sort of like a weak Sen-Sen mint. The bottom line is that City Winter has the best hop balance of any porter I’ve come across - EVER. Astounding product coming from a brewery that also puts out $1.10 Welfare malt liquor - however, I do not slight them in the least for this wide variation - if a brewery has the scope, the means and it’s profitable, go ahead - irony can become king.

12 oz bottle. Near-black walnut color with a big but speedily decaying brown head...minimal roasty/lightly sweet nose offers a bit of expression late but remains weak....mostly bitter, dry and roasty flavors with a touch of toffee, somewhat cardboardy finish, reasonably full. By the end of the bottle I was enjoying this a fair bit, but it’s quite forgettable a moment after the glass is empty.

Given how fine the other products I have had from City I am really looking forward to this one. Dark ruby body topped by a large frothy tan head. So far so good. The aroms is where things start o go wrong. Lightly sweet somewhat meaty aroma. Maybe it is the bullion hops. =) The flavor is sweet and nutty, but insipidly so. Watery slimy mouthfeel. Not a fan, at all.

Pours a deep brown with a nice off white head with some lacing, looks great in the glass. Flavor is mildly sweet, with some roastiness, sour raisin and coffee. Finish is roasty with some smokiness. Not a great porter.

Dark brown with crimson highlights, thin, light tan speckled cap keeps pretty much throughout the entire session of drinking while dispersing a minimal lacing in globular spotting as it is consumed. Aroma is slightly sweet of chocolate and black malts. Clean but faint, takes a bit of wiffing to reach it. Seemingly a dark cherry and raisin fruit tone emerges up and in after taking sips. Taste is mildly sweet in the front, clean, very moderate build towards the middle where some added chocolate maintains a nice smoothness. Glimmers of dark fruits hide behind the finish. Tame dryness in the finish, some small amounts of roasted grain, bitter chocolate and hops do render across the palate lightly. Easy going, smooth, clean feel emersed within a fairly quick and limited medium light body. A decent drinker, clean, smooth, and flavored with enough intention, slightly above average with a sessionable edge that could get boring after two or so.

Dark mahoganey. Minimal soapy light-tan head. Sweet, almost english barleywine-like aroma. Light though. I think currant was planted in my head, but that is what I smell. Taste is a roasted sour combobulation. A sweet roasted coffee with raspberry hops. Not sure what to make of it. Roasted, slightly burnt wood finish.

A nice porter but I wish I tasted more black current. Yes it has the sweet coffee chocolate undertone I enjoy but not enough of it. I think it was to hoppy but in American beer this is not uncommon. OK but not worth seeking out, yet it was pretty good

Dark brown color with a little head. Coffee and chocolate aroma. The taste is much the same, but a little weaker and slightly bitter. It’s better than I was expecting, but it needs a little more malt to pony up for the flavors.