John Sleeman Presents Fine Porter

Brewed by Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo)
Style: Porter
Guelph, Canada

12 oz. bottle. pours a thin dark brown with some lace. aroma of scorched butter and brown sugar. flavor was a strange bitter chocolate with some hops. bitterness seemed to fade as the beer warmed, or was that because my palate had gone numb? next

Ok, Ok...It’s too thin, too carbonated, too lager-like in it’s yeast profile. But it is, at the same time, pretty drinkable. Not to style by any means, but far better than a 33 percentile beer I think. Good roasted malt flavor, some burned brown sugar, chocolate, toffee, etc. Pretty strong hop bitterness to balance things out a bit. I liked this one better than the rest of you guys.

More or less black with a somewhat spicy aroma. Molasses and solid sweet malt flavour and some roastiness to finish. Even some hop bitterness which I wasn’t expecting.

Pouring this bottle into a glass, I could smell a bitter chocolate and smoke. The color was brownish red. The foam was frothy which lasted a while then dissipated quickly after that. To my palate, there was a medium sweetness, moreso than most dark beers. The bitterness was not too overwhelming, I guess a medium bitterness. I have had more bitter lagers, which makes this a good beer. There was definitely a full and creamy body. Somebody stated that it was very carbonated, well it was not too carbonated in my region (and this is fresh and sat in my mouth very well). Overall, this has been one of the best dark beers I have had...should be labeled as a Black and Tan, which is more of what it tastes like.

Sleeman Porter 68, bought in Minnesota. I have had only one or two Sleemans beers before this, and I’ve understood them to have a bad reputation, but I think that is unfair for this beer. I didn’t have a great gauge of the color because it was poured into a blue glass, but as it poured it appeared chestnut brown and clear. The aroma was richly roasted and in the tasting the smoke and roasted malts were particularly strong. The palate was moderate: too carbonated for my taste in porter, and not oily enough. But for flavor it worked o.k. Nowhere near a good porter but not a terribly bad one--I’ve had far worse drinking flavors in porters.

Bouteille- Édition 2004. Brune très foncée aux aromes de caramel et de houblon. Fort goût de houblon et de malt rôti. Mousse dissipante très vite. Fine Porter? Fine but no good enough.--Bottle-2004 Edition. Dark Brown porter with hops and caramel aromas. Strong taste of hops and roasted malt. Fast dissiping foam. Fine Porter? Fine but not good enough.

In the description it reads, "Tasting Notes: Fine Porter is one of the more flavourful styles of ale. It has a rather bold, malty taste and a deep, rich colour." There should be an arrow on the bottle pointing at another beer. This is drinkable, having a faint chocolatey, fruity nose. The flavor is lightly roasted malt, old coffee, and stale nuts. It’s too thin, too almost a porter.

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bottle ’05: Pours an opaque ruby brown with a thin tan head that bubbles away instantly. Aroma is sweet and chocolatey with a fruity black cherry twist.. Flavour is pretty clean, burnt nutty coffee flavour with a slightly bitter finsih. A bit thin. Acceptable drink though. Certainly one of Sleeman’s more engaging brews. But still not a top shelf porter.