John Sleeman Presents Fine Porter

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

Dark brown, almost black, with a reasonably small light-brown head. Alcohol initially wafts out of the glass, followed by milk chocolate. Aroma not as powerful as one would expect for a porter. The flavour is also pretty mellow for its type, though not invisible – pleasing coffee/bitter chocolate flavours fill the mouth, with a medium-length finish. Nice, creamy palate. An innocent introduction to the fulfilling world of porters.

In the bottle this beer appeared more of a nut brown in color than a dark porter brown, but once in the glass the beer seemed darker with a whitish head. The aroma was nice, chocolate and toasted malt initially and woody and nutty as it warmed. The flavor was malty and tosted without any bitter or astringency. A nice mouthfeel but slightly on the thin side. This beer impressed me with its balance and quality I would order this again.

clear deep brown, lacey beige head. aroma of chocolate and raisin with faint hops. flavour follows, but is thinner and finishes rather quickly. amazing for sleeman. not bad by normal standards.

Bottle pours dark brown, large frothy off-white head, with attractive lacing.   Soft roasted malt and cocoa on the nose.   A little bit of earth and licorice as well.   First sip reveals a very soft and almost bland hop profile, with subtle malts and roastiness.   This is more of a dark than a porter.   Light body, with medium to light mouthfeel.   Finishes a bit earthy, without much roastiness.   Malty, slightly sweet, but more of a Dunkel than a Porter.   Thanks goes out to radiomgb for the freebie!

Very good looking beer clear dark brown almost black colour. Thick light brown head. Tangy floral nose with slight vinegar overtones. Dry bitter malt slight burnt after taste.

This wasn’t too bad, especially considering how terrible Sleeman beers are, as a general proposition. I was pleasantly surprised. It poured a rich, dark brown with a tan head with a smoky, coffee-laden scent. The taste was not as promising as the nose. Having said that, it had much of what was promised in the nose, just in a much, much more watery sense. It is Sleeman, after all. Well, if they carry on a different beer every year, at least it’s an improvement on the garbage that they usually pass off as being beer.

Dark chestnut brown w/ a creamy, foamy pale tan head. Very nice lacing. Roasty, slightly chalky, nutty aroma of burnt, spent coffee grains. Thin, medium feel (though apparently appropriate for style). Sweet, astringent flavour of milk chocolate & burnt coffee gives way to a dry, roasty, fruity (prunes?), mildly bitter finish.

Almost opaque dark ruby with a thin white circumference. Aroma has some malt, roasty coffee and noble hops, but, because the boneheads use clear bottles, there some definite skunk in there too. Fortunately, the skunk doesn’t carry over into the flavour which is not that bad, a nice blend of chocolate malt, sweetness, and hops bitterness, complimented by the bitterness of the dark malts. Medium to full body with low to moderate carbonation. This could be really good on tap.