Olde Towne Porter Ale

Brewed by Olde Towne Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Huntsville, Alabama USA

Date: January 10, 2009
Mode: Growler
Source: Tasting, HMoG
Appearance: opaque dark brown, fine tan head, bits of lace
Aroma: dry dark chocolate aroma, touch of dark caramel sweetness
Flavor: rich chocolate flavor, just enough backend sweetness to bring out the chocolate, balanced by a smokey earthyness
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

Appearance: Pours a dark brown, near black body topped with a thin, wispy, tan head. Smell: Dark, roasty, even smokey maltiness with a solid note of unsweetened chocolate and an overall earthy quality to it. Taste: Dark, roasted malts deliver flavors of baker’s chocolate, sooty smoke, and, to a lesser degree, toffee. Medium overall sweetness. Mild earthy, roasty bitterness. Drying finish with an enduring taste of roasty, smoky goodness. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Very enjoyable! Exceptionally drinkable without cutting back on any flavor. To call it Olde Towne’s finest product is a bit of an understatement as it’s their only offering I didn’t find to be displeasing. And what’s this I hear about Olde Towne making zero effort to bottle it? Well, good luck with that, OT.

Growler at the sexual chocolate release. Thanks! I believe this to be my first sample from the state of Alabama. Dark brown pour with a thin tan head. Oxidized aroma. Chocolate, dicetyl, and coffee

Growler at the Sexual Chocolate release. Pours a dark black. Nose is papery, old chocolate, cardboard, some coffee. Floavr is papery as well, grainy, popcorn, some coffee. Didn’t enjoy this one too much.

Thanks to the Jedi posse for sharing this at the Pre-Sex madness! If I was a state ticker, I’d be stoked, since I think this is my first Alabama beer. Anyways, it was sadly a big letdown. Indistinct and cloudy pour, very little character to the nose, cardboard and chalk taste, thin overall.

Draught. Pours a very dark, opaque red. A firm, even brown head stays afloat for several minutes. This was served to me really cold, so I had to let it warm up for some time before I even attempted to detect any aroma or taste. The nose is oaty and chocolaty with toasty notes. My first impression here is American sweet stout, not porter. The body is noticeably syrupy and suggestions of rich milk chocolate cover my palate. This is pretty nutty brew with a sweet, though not excessive, finish. No hops are to be found in the flavor or aroma. Hints of espresso are noted in increasing abundance as the beer warms, but so are the signs of buttery DMS. However, that is an afterthought and I didn’t even notice it until the very end of the glass. I could drink one of these any time. This was a very surprising offering from a state with a beer scene this sparse.

Sampled from a growler. Bigger than anticipated roasted malt aroma with some coffee as well. Flavors mostly of chocolate with a distinct hop finish. Pour is milky brown. Both the flavor and aroma are bigger and tastier than you would expect out of a straight up porter.

Draft. Black in the glass with a tall creamy tan head that had a thin layer lasting and think lace. Nice toffee aroma. The flavor found roast coffee and chocolate, Medium body and a roasty aftertaste. A very decent and enjoyable porter.