New Albanian Bobs 15B Porter

Brewed by New Albanian Brewing Company
Style: Porter
New Albany, Indiana USA

Draught at the brewpub. Pours dark amber black with some yeast floaties and a tight beige head. The aroma is very roasty with some creamy coffee and caramel notes. The flavor is also roasty with oats, caramel, and toast. Quite a smooth mouthfeel, too. Good brew.

draught. This stuff is black as night with a light tan head that stays. Thick roasted coffee bean aroma, just a touch of cola in there. The flavor is like that of a rich latte with some dark chocolate notes in the background. It’s all adequately robust in flavor. I have no complaints about this stuff.

On tap at the brewpub. Black with a light beige head. A pretty good porter, but tastes mostly like a homebrew kit porter. Slightly tangy. This place is awesome (Rich-O’s Public House) and it’s easy to get swept up in the ambiance of great beer on tap. This just isn’t one of them.

Draft at NABC. Poured a black hue with a moderate off-white head that diminished slowly with fair lacing. Good porter aroma. Moderate flavor with solid finish. Good surprise.

Draft: Midnight ruby. Clumpy gray-tan head. Deeply roasty, butter toffee aromas. Coffee beans and shoe polish awaken as it warms. Texture has a brisk hardness. Fuzzy carbonation. Dryly chalky and earthily roasty upfront, with softening dabs of vanilla and buttery malt husks. Burnt toffee hints appear late. Mild bittersweet chocolate flavor imparts a dash of astringency. Black malt yields loads of burnt cookie flavors, which only adds to the hardness. Deeply rooted earthy roast pungency lifts the softer molasses aspects, but the meatiness remains. Long finish of bittersweet chocolate-dipped prunes and an earthy malt-derived dryness. Bit too buttery aroma and overly fuzzy texture. This isn’t quite up to snuff with past versions, but it’s not bad, either.

Sampled at the Great Taste of the Midwest 2005. Very dark, almost black body. The aroma is roasted coffee and some cinnamon toast. The taste is rich dark chocolate and some coffee. Finishes a little grassy. A decent porter.

Those that didn’t like the first batch of this would be doing themselves a favor by trying it again. Just enough bitterness was removed to make this a very well balanced porter.

Draft - typical porter appearance. Brown with a small tan head - maybe due to the pour. Very chocolatey aroma and flavor. This is the porter that I was trying to make with my last homebrew!