Harveys Porter (Bottle)

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Porter
Lewes, England

A special treat from reakt in trade. A honey sweetness and reminder of fall in the nose. Pours dark....drk as a black steers toucous on a moonless prarie night. A reserved tight dense tan head sits upon the viscous liquid as if placed there by studious and certain hands. (feel free to use that one in yer ads Mr. Brewmaster). I will not bother to go into particulars about this lovely brew other than to say only the English are able to achieve this level of perfection with dark beers. My desire has been satieated. Again, reakt sank the Bismark with sending this one to me, so..... "The Hood found the Bismark and on that fatal day.....The Bismark started firing from 15 miles away! We’ve gotta sink the Bismark was the battle sound...but when the smoke had cleared away the mighty Hood went down." Ahhh Johnny Horton.

500 mL bottle. Deep, almost opaque, mahogany brown. A vigorous pour resulted in very little head. The aroma is quite sweet, but with a slight underlying astringency. There is some burnt caramel and some hazelnut in there. The taste is quite interesting, with different flavours trading dominance. There is a sweetness which I cannot ascribe to anything but . . . sugar??? Also making appearances are dark fruit, roasted coffee beans, liquorice, and maybe a little chocolate. Some roast bitterness at the end. It actually seems to taste stale, but perhaps that’s what they’re after. Mouthfeel is a little oily, but quite full. Light carbonation. Interesting beer.

Nice combination of somewhat plummy, coffeeish molasses malts with a bitter, burnt flavour in the end. Soapy head and watery low-carb body. Somewhat metallic in the end. Kinda liked it.

500ml bottle. Pours a nice deep brown colour with a tiny tan head, that actually does leave a lacing. The aroma is mostly of chocolate and roasted malts, not very distinguishable from a dry stout, nothing outstanding. But the taste! Oh man, the taste is good. Oats, smoke, robust roasted malts, chocolate, cocoa and even some rye. This is fairly complex actually. The finish is bitter and dry, again, like a dry stout, but with a dark roasted barley and cocoa aftertaste. Carbonation is low, with an oily mouth-feel and fuller body, but a tad watery, although porters can have that. I’m really starting to enjoy porters a lot, it’s fast becoming one of my favourite ale-styles.

Bouteille 500ml, courtoisie de Hogtownharry. De couleur noire et opaque. Nez de malt rôti, de chocolat au lait (notes lactiques), de houblon herbeux et aux notes terreuses ainsi qu’avec des notes de café et de pain rôti. Moyennement ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen-bas et une texture crémeuse et aux petites notes aqueuses. Léger goût de chocolat au lait (notes de lactose) accompagné d’un léger goût boisé ainsi que des petites notes fruitées (raisins) et de tabac de cigarette lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût moyennement amer de malt assez rôti (faibles notes brûlées) ainsi qu’un léger goût de chocolat noir et des notes de pain grillé et de mélasse (faibles traces de toffee) puis en finale l’on retrouve une amertume de houblon herbeux asséchant (thé) aux notes terreuses et également des notes de café. Post-goût long-moyen et plutôt sec, moyennement amer de rôti-brûlé, de houblon herbeux, léger de chocolat et avec des traces de café.

Mmmm. The place i get these beers from must have had them for ages. This one also tasted well aged. Very smoothed out and rich. Heavy roasted flavor, with a bit of hoppiness. Hops have an odd astringency that’s not at all unpleasant. A bit sour, with a touch of prune/raisin flavor. Highly recommended for those of you that favor porters. Beer as art.

Drank at Royal Oak 13 August 07. Strong taste for the abv. Pitch black, firm body, small head. Distinct coffee and roasted malt. Not the best Porter.

(This is with Tom Paine on the label.) Scored this 7/10 = 3.5/5 before logging in here. RateBeer average is again respectable. Not much head to speak of. Pretty much just like in the RateBeer profile photo, in fact. Diminishes faster than the Indy 500. Thin body, mellow sweet flavor, nice aroma in the bottle. Dry finish. Basically what you’d expect in an English Porter.