Haandbryggeriet Porter

Brewed by Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
Style: Porter
Drammen, Norway

Newly imported 500ml bottle. Deep brown pour with a large head. Fair lacing. Aroma of smoky malt, coffee and chocolate. A lot of yeast in the taste. Bitter and mostly dry finish. A pretty good beer for a crisp, fall day.

Bottle from Capones. Pours black with a large tan head. Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, fruit, and coffee. The flavor is sweet chocolate, coffee, roasted malts, fruit, and a bitter piney finish. Good brew.

(US Import "Norse Porter 6.5%) Good sized head of fine and dense bubbles. Light carbonation. Settles slowly. Nice roasty aroma with some sweet malts, milk chocolate, some dark fruit in the background and a hint of smoke. Color is a very dark brown. Lively in the mouth. Loads of roasted grains up front, light coffee and a slight tartness that is associated with a bit of fruit. Little bitterness and tartness makes the mouth salivate. Light alcohol presence. The body is a littl ebit htinner than I expected. Finishes dry and roasty with a lingering tartness. Avery good porter. I guess I was expecting this to be more of a baltic porter. Pleasantly surprised.

"norse porter". pours black with nice lacing and a large creamy brown head. aroma has notes of chocolate, coffee, some candied fruits(peach, cherry) and a touch of lemon soap. flavor is mainly bitter dark chocolate and coffee with some pine needles. a bit thin mid-palate, but it lets you know your drinking a porter instead of a stout(no syrupy, velvety texture here). full frothy carbonation. medium bodied....definitely a dry finish. i do not like the touches of lemon soap in the aroma and flavor though. a dry, robust, bitter porter. solid.

500ml Bottle: Strong astringent aroma. Smells of astringent, chocolate, roasted malts, menthol, and chemicals. Difficult to even inhale the aroma. Poured dark brown with a huge, foamy, rocky, brown head that lasted throughout. Opaque. Flavor is lightly sweet and heavily astringent. Tastes of chocolate, malts, cream, roasting, coffee, and astringent. Medium to full body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Astringent malt finish. Overall, maybe I had a bad bottle?

(Bottle, labeled “Norse Porter”) Pours an opaque black body with a large brown head. Aroma of roastiness, sour cassis, graham cracker, light smoke, and spruce. Flavor of light sourness, roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and caramel.

Bottle (Batch 158, bottled 08.05.08). Head is initially small, fizzy, brown, fully diminishing. Body is black. Aroma is moderately malty (chocolate, roasted grain, caramel), with a note of vanilla. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, soft/lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. ARRRGGHHH. This once-great (2007 batch) beer is now just another boring porter. The differences between this and the first batch to get exported to the US are like night and day. Sooooooo sad. Fizzy, dying head, ordinary aroma, less intense flavors, no longer opaque...everything about it is a pale comparison to the 2007 batch. ARRGGHHH.

Bottle shared at Glouglouburps rooftop tasting. Poured a deep dark black body with a medium sized light brown head. Burnt aroma of bittersweet bakers chocolate and some raosted malts. Super fizzy over carbonated body that reminded me of drinking soda and eating pop rocks at the same time. Flavor seemed nice enough but I couldn’t be sure because I was so distracted by the fizzy mouthfeel. Seemed like a nice porter but with all that carbonation I’m not so sure.