Harveys Porter (Bottle)

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Porter
Lewes, England

Bottled. Nice chocolat and light roasted aroma. Black color, light brown small rocky head that disappears quickly leaving no lace so leaving you with a glass that looks like a glass of cola. Sweet, some chocolat, light roasted, bit cola flavor, light bodied (thin?). Actually very drinkable but not quite my style. I’m more into aggresive stouts.

Bottled at the Royal Oak, Borough, June 2006. If you like your porters to be pseudo-stouts, as they often are these days, you probably won’t like this. If you prefer a more traditional old English style of porter this may be more your cup of tea. Very dark red/brown, with not much head. Intensely woody, with a touch more oxidation than I’d like, which may be down to the age of the bottle or the pasteurisation process. Some deep malt and soy sauce touches in the aroma. Light, dry and distinctly bitter on the palate with licorice and touches of powdery chocolate. Woody character persists in the mouthfeel. Authentic sour edge on the finish. "Old" tasting, but very interesting. However, the woodiness is just a touch overdone for my taste.

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.

A deep dark porter with a weak light moka head and low carbonatation. Aroma is pleasant, with plums, currants, licorice and chocolate. In mouth, a crisp dryish bitter chocolate with herbal notes, tobacco, and light peated notes. Medium bodied, but very complex. A pleasant surprise. LCBO Nov. 2007. BB June 2008.

Head is small, fizzy, light brown, fully diminishing. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, molasses), with notes of sherry and tar. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Sour, somewhat boring aroma, not to my liking.

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.

Molasses, fresh leafy tobacco, cocoa, apricot, raisin and plum notes to the nose. Clear mahogany brown body with chestnut highlights topped by a generous, foamy tan-brown head that has a nice mix of large and fine bubbles, sticks to the sides of the glass and lasts very well. Sweet malts are undercut by pronounced saltiness and mineral character. Some sherry like flavours in the aftertaste and roasted malts are quite pronounced. Throughout all that it still seems sweet. Some sulfur is also apparent in the finish as are dried dark pit fruits. Very soft texture with fair to medium carbonation that leaves the medium full body feeling quite silky in the mouth. There’s a lot going on here and its a finely crafted beer but ultimately I think the mineral character is too strong for my tastes. Half pint glass. Cellar temperature. Bottle (LCBO, Nov-07).

Tom Paine bottle and fancied up in my Expedition snifter: I swear I had rated this but guess not.

Poured a deep muddled borwn with an initial huge frothy head and very nice lacing. The aroma has notes of prune and raisin, molasses, some coco and vanilla beans, earthy yeast esters and bready malts. The taste starts surprising twangy with lots of fruity and molasses flavor on top of a nice bitter background. Get some more milder malts in midesection before finishing off with a dash of smoke and coffee bitterness. The feel is strange, one hand it seems thin but then the palate is treated to some oily character, lively as well. A solid old-world porter.