Nimbus Robust Porter

tap at brewery-pours deep brown with a nice red tinge around the edge of the glass. small beige head was gone in an instant. nutty, roasty, char aromas come from this pint glass. the flavors are roast dominated with some subtle dark chocolate and char. heafty on the black patent malts here. The finish tastes slightly oxidized, but flacoalto says it maybe one of the 10 malts used on this beer. Maybe that could be rye malt dryness? dont know. nonetheless, a decent porter, but didn’t go well with the hotness of the day.

Dark brown color. Small had. Aroma is chocolate and coffee. A light to medium bodied porter. Malts are chocolate and coffee. Hops are fairly spicy, with a light to medium bitterness. Kind of a standard Brew Pub Porter, yet it has a real solid chocolate malt backbone. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean, dry and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter

This beer pours from the tap a dark black color that can be peered through at the edges, where it shows a clear dark brown color. The head disappears quickly, but is a light brown color while there. The aroma has a malty note of chocolate at first, but moves to a light roasted note that is reminiscent of a lightly roasted coffee. As this beer warms up it picks up a nice aromatic note that has a biscuit-like maltiness to it.

The beer is quite cool and refreshing on this 75° F day here in Tucson. The taste is lightly sweet up front, but then moves to a rich dark chocolate-like finish. There is also a nice hop biter here that starts in the middle of the brew and moves through to a lightly bitter finish. There also seems to be some herbal, almost earth, and even some citrus notes from hop additions. In fact hop flavor is definitely here, but it melds in quite well with the smooth rich maltiness of this beer.

This porter is actually quite light on the heavily roasted malt flavors (there is some dark roast notes in the finish though), it instead focuses on the rich chocolate and roasted caramel type notes that are often found in a dark beer. This is quite tasty. It is also quite light bodied, which is nice for a spring day, but overall I might want a bit more body in this brew. What I like about this beer is that there is a nice subtle, rich, complex mix of dark malt notes that poke through the otherwise dry characteristics of this beer. As a porter this beer is quite nice, but it does not really live up to the Robust Porter name.

<font size=-4>Sampled: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/nimbus-brewing-company/1017/>Nimbus Brewing, Tucson, AZ<font size=-1>