Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter

Brewed by Sea Dog Brewing (Shipyard Brewing Co.)
Style: Porter
Topsham, Maine USA

Bottle. Pours a clear very deep ruby with a large mostly lasting foamy off-white head. Aroma: Huh? This is a Porter? A few more sniffs later and it’s starting to kind of resemble a Porter, but not really: there’s roasted malt, light coffee and hazelnuts. Flavour: hmmm, what to make of that? It certainly doesn’t taste like what I expected, in fact it’s nowhere as good as I expected: Slightly roasty with sweet, kind of artficial nutty malt and a hint of hops -- makes for a weird combination of flavours. Somewhat watery too. Light to medium bodied. In the end I would say this is closer to a mediocre Nut Brown then a Porter -- this was O.K. at best, it didn’t do much for me.

Black and fizzy, with a head that reminds me of a root beer. Has a wierd aroma that smelled like roasted almonds. Read the label and see that hazelnuts are part of the ingredients. Fairly sweet, with a strong toasted nut flaver. This tastes like a soft drink it is so sweet.

Bottle... Clear, very dark ruby ale with a small, fizzy, khaki head. Good retention. Chocolate and tons of hazelnut dominate the aroma. Moderately bitter, chocolatey flavor with low residual sweetness and just a pinch of tanginess. Medium-bodied with a milky mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Nutty finish. Very much reminds me of 1994’s Long Shot Hazelnut Brown brewed up by BBC for the winner of their homebrew contest. Thanks to headbanger for the bottle!

(Bottle) Pours dark, dark red. Almost white, fast decreasing head. Smells chocolate with some roasted tones. Some smokey tobacco and pine-bark. Pepper and nuts. Gingerbread. Tastes crisp bread. Maybe some cheap milk chocolate. Pepper and nuts. No aftertaste.

[Bottle from RBESG] Roasty, spicey, dose of smoke. Slightly sweet on the palate, watery, not great.

From a 12 oz. twist cap brown bottle with an unnotched freshness date. Poured a ruby hued brown with a foamy off-white head that settled into a thin lacing. Aromas of roasted barley and hazelnuts, floral, a light vanilla and cocoa powder. Medium carbonation and a softly crisp, slick and smooth light-medium bodied mouthfeel. Pleasant, but average porter taste, roasted barley malts, a powdery chocolate that has a little bark to it, citrus hops that are quite soft in their bitterness, more malty crisp, the hazelnuts have a bit of an artificial taste, and a dry citrus and malty finish, decent affordable drinkability. Purchased at Trader’s Joe, a cheaply price and drinkable porter.

A bit spicy and hoppy for my taste for a porter. But decent. Goes to thine head.

Very strange smell, at first almost disgusting but then the smell of hazelnut. Taste like hazelnut, slightly watery.