Harveys Porter (Bottle)

Bottle. Poured a black color with an average rocky light brown head that diminished slowly with fair lacing. Moderate sweet prune malt aroma. Medium body with a smooth slick texture. Medium sweet malty flavor with a medium sweet finish of average duration. Complex sweet brew.

500ml bottle, probably a few years old: Pours a nearly opaque with dark brown edges and a thin, creamy tan head. Aroma of sweet toasty dark caramel malts with some aged dark fruitiness and a touch of nutty character and some cardboard. Body starts lightly sweet with some cookie dough and mild brown sugar along with some earthy hoppy bitterness. Finishes drier and slightly chalky with some sherry-like qualities. Probably pretty good if it were fresher.

(bottle - 500 ml) Dark brown pour with not much of a head. Aroma is very dark and fruity with hints of wine and plums. Taste is rather bland, almost like a dry red wine. Some malt in the flavor with some sweetness and fruits. Not much roasty flavor. Kind of slimy feeling.

275ml bottle. Hard black with a wisp of head soon gone. Aroma starts with creamy coffee, first taste reveals a light roast with a sweet edge. Aroma starts to soften to a sweet liquorice, flavour stars to dullen a little and certainly become sweeter. Savour is the fading fruit finish that tempers the sweetness and leaves a little lingering chocolate in its wake.

Bottled. Creamy and enough foamy head. Black and dense color, much gloomy. Rich and alcoholic scent: distinct notes of coffee, parched malt, burnt wood and bitter cocoa. Much balmy and pleasant aroma. Strong, alcoholic and solid taste. Not much prickly but dense, full and protract with a decided and very long bitter final.

500 ml bottle, pasteurized I’d assume, from Julios Liquors in Westborough MA, Feb 2006 (labeled "Haryey’s Tom Paine Original Old Porter). From a Sam Smiths pint glass at cellar temperature. Decent pour, dark molasses color with a stable large-bubbled creamy tan head....sweet cocoa, almost chocolated malted milkshake, in the nose, with very faint portlike tones as well, buttery toffee and a bit of baked apple and ginger, delightful....very smooth, rather sweet initial mouthfeel/flavor, but significant roasty bitterness takes over very quickly, dark burnt baker’s chocolate and just a hint of sour milk and cherry....the roasty-burnt character is almost too much, overpowering the sweetness until just at the very finish, as the beer has gone down and the aftertaste is settling in, when there are hints of milk chocolate to bring us back to moderation, restraint....beauty. Works for me.

Courtesy of Pailhead. Dark brown almost black, minimal head, mostly film. Both aroma and flavor have a huge licorice character to them. Very dry and bitter in the finish. Licorice quality kills this beer for me.

Bottle: Aroma is very fruity with grape and moderate yeastiness. Only a touch of coffee is noticeable. Pours a dark brown with hints of orange hilights when held to the light. Insignificant tan head almost leaves the beer looking still. Flavor is very muted with some grain and hints of fruit and molasses in the middle. Finish is almost non-existant as the grainy fruitiness fades to almost nothing. Slight presence of coffee and black licorice in the finish