City Winter Porter

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

Dark Brown Coloring... Roasted Coffee and a Bit of Chocolate...Light on the Flavor Overall and With Little Sophistication.

Pours a very pretty dark chocolate brown. Nose is of coffee and roasted malt. I found the thin mouthfeel a bit distracting. An otherwise fine porter and at $5.29/6 an economical choice if nothing else.

Okay, ’fess up time. I cheated on my review. The first time I sampled this, the bottle was poured into a regular tumbler-type glass and the head was missing, aroma was nil. For this taste, I poured it into a Duvel glass, and the old boy stood up proud and tall, a magnificent, sizzling, tannish beauty with roasty chocolatey aroma and hints of toffee and nuts, but nothing too outstanding. So let’s hear it for glassware! Color: totally black. A bit odd palate, abrupt finish. Smooth, despite that initial attack of bitter-sweetness. Light in body, little texture. Very little of what I expect to enjoy when I drink a porter, almost nothing of what I look for in a winter ale of any kind. Later on, those jarring off-notes disappear and it finishes much more smoothly, but overall a disappointment. I hope that others in their line make the grade.

Pours a dark brown that is almost black. Thin fizzy biege head. Mildly sweet and roasted aroma. Thin mouthfeel. Watery. Little roasted flavors with a HINT of coffee. Watery finish. Bland. Not what I’d call a good porter.

You know that South Park episode where they ask the guy at the Chinese restaurant to build a city wall? The whole episode’s basically an excuse to make a joke based on his accent, so it sounds like he’s saying "shitty wall" over and over again. Why is that relevant? Well, this is City Porter. That mispronunciation applies just fine here. Deep muddy brown. Nose is virtually nonexistent, slightly roasty, mildly soapy. Flavor is very lightly roasty, bit of coffee bitterness and maybe some smoke. Amazingly little going on. I should have been worried when it said "Dark beer with roasted barley malts" on the label. It’s a porter. What the heck else would it be?

Fairly thin. Has a scummy light yellow head. The aroma is coffee, mushrooms and molasses. The taste is coffee with a little bitterness.

eh, had better had worse, not something that I am going to run off and buy a case of, a pretty light porter.

Moderately thick tan head, black body. Estery (pear) chocolate roast aroma. Bitter chocolate start, bitter pear finish. Mild flavor, seems like they didn't want to offend anyone. Leaves a dry feeling in the mouth.