Left Hand Black Jack Porter

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Porter
Longmont, Colorado USA

Bottled on 01?-24-07. Nearly opaque brown-black with large head that settles quickly to a lasting foam ring. Aroma is chocolate cappuccino s’mores and wood smoke. Flavor is initially mild chocolate, turning slowly to tongue-prickling, evergreen resin, coffee and toasted marshmallow. Palate is creamy smooth and medium-bodied, with a tingle on the tongue.

pours very close to black, with an off-white head. scents of chocolate and malt. tastes of cream and roasted coffee, with a touch of chocolate. good mouthfeel, medium bodied and smooth.

Verre de dégustation, provenant d’une bouteille de 12 oz, dégusté au Mondial de la Bière 2007 (Montréal, QC). Arôme: Odeur de chocolat et de noix rôtis. Apparence: La couleur est noire opaque. Présence d’un mince col crémeux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de caramel et de chocolat avec une pointe de café. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement crémeuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Légère présence de chocolat en arrière goût. (Rating #1066)

Geez, what an ugly label, but sadly not quite ugly enough for me to actually like it. Anyway, this primarily has light, dry cocoa flavours with marshmallow sweetness. Ginger, molasses, cream, Christmas cake and salt linger around the edges. Minerally finish. Seemed a bit boring at the start but it opened up a bit. Not bad. Thanks again to the man with the self-proclaimed best beer fridge in Australia.

On tap at Max & Joe’s Left Hand tasting party. Pours a deep, deep dark brown (almost black) with a beige head. The aroma consists of milk chocolate and a splash of molasses. The big palate is thick and has a mild roastedness with a huge blast of chocolate. This is a fairly sweet beer, but it is also nicely balanced to produce a full-mouthed feeling. This is much like drinking a chocolate malted milk. Has an amazingly quick finish for such a thick beer and kisses you with a slight hop bitterness at the end. The head retention is outstanding to the last drop.

bottled on 1/03/07-pours a kind of clear dark purple red with a nice two finger tan solid fluffy head, kind of a weird color for a porter. aroma is a nice solid malt with a touch of hops and a somewhat dark fruit or rasberry. has a medium body with great lacing and descdent carbonation. flavor is odd like the aroma, has malt a touch of hops and the rasberry comes in. kind of an odd and different porter, but also nice at the same time. very smooth also with a touch of dry hop aftertaste. as it warms some roasted malt flavor and aroma comes in to play.

355ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki , American Week 2007). Excessively sweet smell. Excessively sweet taste. An insult to "porter". Not like UK porter at all. However, not so bad I’d refuse a free one.

Pours a deep brown with frothy tan head with poor retention and minimal lacing. The aroma is definitely sweet, with caramel, raisins and some chocolate. The flavor is roasty, malty and chocolatey sweet. The finish is a bit on the thin side when compared to other porters. It’s creamy and pleasant at first, but then it fades to a watery finish that reminds me of bad coffee with hop bitterness. Overall this is a decent porter, just not as full and flavorful as many others. I think they put to much emphasis on making it balanced and making it finish clean, when they should have focused on making it fuller bodied and more complex.