Mill Street Coffee Porter

Brewed by Mill St. Brewery
Style: Porter
Toronto, Canada

Bottle sampled @ RBSG 05’ (Montréal) Post-Cidery Impromptu Hotel Room Tasting
Dark brown, light head, no lacing. Nose of light coffee, french roast unfortunately, sweet malts. The flavor is a bit dry and thin. Mouthfeel and body are virtually absent.

Vegetal, chocolate, stale cookie, sweet aroma. Opaque brown body with low tan head that recedes to cover with some lacing. Chocolate and biscuity malts with some finishing roastiness. Somewhat thin and light with low carbonation. Bottle sampled at the hotel room post-RBSG’05.

07.10.05 12oz bottle, RBSG. Dark, dirty brown. Thin. Light coffee. Plain. Nice peat smoke on nose but lost on palate.

Bottle (341ml) (the new pre-printed one, not the now discontinued stubby). Poured quite a deep amber black, with a more than off-white creamy fair-duration slightly rocky head. Aroma - well, espresso, tinge of sour cream, very very roasted malt, dark chocolate (more chicory). Mouthfeel is very creamy and slightly fizzy - quite a surprise how bitter for first-timers. Flavour is strong espresso and burnt malt, hops contributing to the bitterness, some earth tones and maybe a hint of acetone in the finish. This is a nice dark beer (hesitate to say porter), but much thinner than it used to be - on draught it was a treat - it now seems a little watered- and toned-down.. Was a 3.9, now it’s a 3.4/5 - call it 3.6 based on very strong memories and the current pour.

(355ml bottle, stamped 6/22/05) Big beige head atop a dark brown body. Aroma is medium sweet, rich chococoffee. Taste is medium sweet, chococoffee. Watery light-medium body. Definitely improves when it warms, as the coffee becomes more pronounced and fuller. Strangely the coffee seems more stale at that point.

Pours a clear roasty dark brown with a thick frothy, and clumpy lacing tan head. Aroma has a subtle coffee and dark chocolate presence with a hint of bittering hops. Body is kinda thin for a porter and the malty sweetness gets covered a bit by the carbonation. Otherwise has a decent coffee balance and complexity.

Re-rate: goodly sample at brewery reveals an integrated, full, delicious brew without aforementioned acrid tendencies. Hmm! What we now witness is both showy and comforting. A Porter Toronto can be proud of, from a Brewer making marks on its way to its potential. Brand-new design bottle, very fresh. Pours a semi-opaque black with a beautiful tall dark beige head, with muted sour malt and bitter coffee aroma. Taste stale bad office coffee and tobbaco ash with a dry prickly tang on the tongue and palate - truly bizarre. Fizzy and acrid-smokey. Sour and oddly bitter. Jangly needles on the tongue and palate carry long in finish. I adore good coffee and porter, yet can’t fathom this beer from our historical Distillery area brewer. Small flourish of competent malty sweetness does nothing to balance out the harsh feel or shake my impression of a subpar flavored novelty beverage. Shows its best at a warmer temp. 4/4/2/1/10=2.1

Bottle courtesy of pintbypint. The body looks black, but shows a nice ruby color when held to light. The large head is tan. The aroma is rich chocolate and coffee. There also seems to be an oatmeal hint. The taste is coffee and a little hint of green beans. There is also a grassy note with some chocolate. If the mouthfeel was a tad smoother, this would be outstanding.