Hampshire Penny Black

Cask @ Reading Beer Festival 2008.
Clear medium to dark red brown color with a average, frothy - creamy, good lacing, mostly lasting, light beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, notes of chocolate. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is flat to soft. (030508)

[on draught at Three Guineas, Reading] Deep brown, virtually no head. Smells rich, smokey and inviting. Taste is intitially flat warm coca cola, developing into coffee and deep fruit richness (blackberries?). A smokey taste emerges, becoming a little bitter before mellowing into a beautiful roasted malt aftertaste. Lovely flavours, but a little too dry on the palate for my liking.

(Cask at Akkurat, Stockholm) Very dark brown colour with ruby hints. Foamy, pale brown head. roasted, malty nose with notes of dark fruit, coffee and chocolate. Roasted, malty taste with chocolate, cocoa, tobacco and hints of ashes and smoke. Medium body, balanced bitterness. Not overly complex, but a nice and tasty porter.

Cask at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Pours out in a dark brown colour with a creamy beige foam. Aroma of toasted malts, roasted coffee and milky chocolate. Medium to light-bodied with strong notes of milky chocolate and toasted malts with dryish notes of hay in the background. Medium-bitter finish of nut-shells and dark chocolate.

Cask at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Almost black color with a pale brown head. Aroma: Roasted malt, cream, dark berries and coffee. Flavor: Roasted malt, dark berries, cream, licorice and coffee. I found this one to be a bit too weak and watery for a porter, but still drinkable.