MacTarnahans Bourbon Cask Aged Blackwatch Cream Porter

Formerly brewed at Portland Brewing Company (Pyramid)
Style: Porter
Portland, Oregon USA

Sweet, malty aroma, featuring a rich blend of dark chocolate, espresso, vanilla, faint wood, cologne, toffee and fairly strong bourbon notes. Deep ebony color with dark brown highlights, filtered, and an uneven, receding head. Starts off sweet and chocolatey, the middle roasty, slightly burnt and coffeeish, and closing with a hefty amount of bourbon, toffee and vanilla flavors. Medium-bodied, smooth but turning bubbly late on the palate, with a light-moderate amount of acidity and bitterness. A huge improvement over the standard Black Watch in my opinion; there's no real reason to drink that stuff when this is available instead. In fact, this will be the first Mactarnahan's beer that I can actually see myself missing when it's gone.

2003: Nearly opaque black with ruby highlights and a medium diminishing tan head. Absolutely beautiful. Amazing aroma of coffee, bourbon, wood, roast, malt, vanilla and chocolate. Medium creamy body with lively carbonation. Bourbon is the most prominent flavor. Roast, chocolate, coffee, licorice and vanilla sit in the background. A very pleasing roast, chocolate and coffee aftertaste lingers on. Big thanks to Slikwily for this one!

bottle-12/27/03 three floyds RB gathering. Thanks to PhillyBeer for bringing this brew, which was my #500, but i didn't enter it till just now. pours with an off white head that was gone in a flash. Nice carbonation, almost to much for a cask aged beer. Medium body with bourbon detected in the finish.

Pours a dark brown color with a medium brown head. The aroma is nothing short of amazing. Excellent bourbon notes with a sweet malt aroma. The taste does not quite live up to the aroma but is still very good. Nice bourbon flavors with chocolate and some coffee bitterness. Mouthfeel is full. This is a pretty darn good brew.

black, tan head. very nice aroma - caramel, vanilla, chocolate, sponge toffee, fresh ground coffee beans, toasty woody notes. unfortunately the flavour just isn't what the aroma promises and the seemed to die out way too quickly. if the beer tasted the way it smelled it would be outstanding, like this it's just pretty good.

Nice blackness/ruby in light, thin foamy tan head. Nice lacing. Smells a bit of coffee, dirt, bittersweet chocolate. Earthy flavor, I guess the taste of oak. Good coffee flavor. Almost soapy. Not the greatest porter I've had in a whilte but very nice. Nice subtlety in the flavor. Aftertaste is almost chlorine? and then bitterness.

Dark black color. Large foamy white head. Aroma is chocolate, coffee and a touch of dark fruit. A medium to light bodied porter. Hops are slightly bitter. A very smooth tasting porter. Touches of oak and dried fruit are complemented by a bourbon-like sweetness. Perhaps a bit thin tasting for a porter, but I have been noticing this trait in a lot of porters lately, so it may just be me. A very drinkable winter warmer porter. Etched/painted beer bottle. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Very solid beer. Taste is like a very creamy ale that goes down extremely smooth with a good malty, coffee-like aftertaste. Has a small brown head that disappears quickly.