Koff Porter

Brewed by Sinebrychoff (Carlsberg)
Style: Baltic Porter
Kerava, Finland

Black, darken, impenetrable and elegant aspect. Dark nut color, creamy and adherent head. Complex and balanced scent: notes of smoke, embers, roast wood and malt. Pungent but velvety taste, much soft and without excessive alcoholic notes. Pleasant bitter with smoke notes that remember burned wood and ash. A lot balanced, much soft and rich of smells. Thanks to mabjork for this great beer.

Bottled in 1997, bottle #3536. WOW! Now THIS is a nose! Big rich nose full of raisin, whisky, butter, and malt sweetness. Body is nearly opaque with a foamy film of bubbles. Taste-grape, medium bitterness, fig, light soy, very little chocolate and coffee, a good wallop of aroma hops on the tongue, cola, and an overall flatness. Very well done and well made. As I said with the FD gonzo, beers like this could easily make my favorite style Baltic Porters!

Flavor was a blend of coffee, malt, chocolates, hoppiness, and fruits. Aroma was mostly fruit and sweetness, doesn’t have the same depth that the taste does. A solid porter for sure.

Pours black with huge brown head, medium length with beautiful laces; 1 dimensional, huge nose, lacks complexity and depth: fresh fruity, a bit green together with a little molasses; metallic, full but also quite acidy body; into a very short metallic, sugary finish with some acidy bitterness. By the way, I have never seen this much yeast in the bottom of a beer before in my life, I guess that was the best experience with this beer.

From the bottle.

Pours a relatively dark black with a big fluffy tan head. The aroma is roasted malt, a bit of agar, and some sweaty socks. The flavor is dark-roasted grain, bits of sweetness, hints of fruit, with a decent bitter finish that is too heavy on the burnt coffee. The mouthfeel is enjoyable, but slightly thin for the ABV.

This is a nice strong porter, but drinking it head-to-head against the exceptional Dark Horse Reserve Black Bier, it just doesn’t measure up in aroma, flavor, or mouthfeel. It has nothing like the flavor complexity of the Dark Horse, and the palate comes off on the thin side.

(Bottle BB 02/07/07) Roasted malty, coffee-like and chocolaty aroma. Black colour and large, brownish, slightly lasting head with good lacing. Roasted malty, very bitter, coffee-like, licorice-like flavour of long duration. Softly carbonated, slightly astringent, dry and full-bodied palate. Even though some Finnish micro brews are finally starting to approach the quality of ’Sinebrychoff Porter’, it is still the flagship of Finnish beers! An excellent brew! 31/08/06 (original rating was 8/5/8/5/16)

Bottle purchased at Friar Tuck in Savoy, IL. Pours a brown-black with a deep brown hue, although the carbonation is exessive. On the nose, there’s plenty of chocolate and a hint of unpleasant cardboard. On the palate, lots of chocolate and sugar, and then a strong bitter finish. This sudden contrast of sweetness and hops was unnerving. I found this beer analagous to an attractive cousin of the opposite sex; the juxtaposition is always unsettling.

330 ml bottle thanks to Kramer17801. Very dark pour with minimal head. Not much left after a few minutes. Aromas were heavy chocolate and roastiness and fresh baked bread. Flavor is sweet at first with a tight carbonation on the tip of the tongue. Coffee flavors are next. Some hoppy bitterings, and a rather subtle dustiness that just reminds you that this is a porter after all. Very good.