Smuttynose Baltic Porter

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Baltic Porter
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Pours dark brown with a generous light brown head. Smells of roasted malt, dark fruit, molasses, some roasted malt. Tastes sweet and chocolatey with some spice elements. More of an amped up porter than a typical Baltic porter, but nice.

My Bottom Line:
This Baltic Porter’s complex malt display showcases biscuits, coffee beans, crunchy dark chocolate and roastiness in an elegant mouthfeel.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam surrounds the brown-lined blackness.
-This is yet another Smuttynose brew in which malt flavors are superbly extracted.
-This is very drinkable for its size; the dextrins are kept in check while still displaying enough of their sweetness to be pleasurable.
-I honestly didn’t expect anything less from this, one of the best breweries in northeastern America.

Bottle.

22 oz bottle. Rich unfiltered black beer. Thick dark brownish head. The aroma is quite authentic initially, sweet salty roasted barley, dark chocolate and a bittersweet toasted character. Behind the sweet/toasted malt character is a fairly distracting DMS-like cooked vegetable flavour. Otherwise, it is rich and chocolatey with a lot of bitter chocolate, salted roast and soft lean malts. Some coffeeish flavour on the back. It’s got some very good points about it, but there are also some serious flaws.

Draft @ Rustico. I seemed to really, really like this one... Huge chocolate syrup in the nose, dense roast, a little milk and cream, some sort of strange bread note. It changes from slightly bitter bakers chocolate to a sweeter chocolate syrup flavor, very lucious and decadent, dessert-like (cake, fudge, etc) in its richness, but I was a little drunk when I had this pint, but for some reason, I just really, really dug it.

Bottle, courtesy of MissDolle. It pours a beautiful black body under a cute tan head. Heavy on the nose, with chocolate, malt and beefstock. Sweet and malty flavor, with chocolate and a nice piney hoppyness. Full-bodied, oily, warm and sticky-sweet in the mouth, really pleasant. The finish is long, with chocolate and coffee. A really lovely one, sure one of the best of the night. (080823)

Near black, with what appears to be a hint of ruby. Huge thick, lasting dark khaki foam with nice lace. Tropical fruit mix with chocolate malt, hint of tar, dates, treacle, sweet espresso and light wintergreen. Aroma seems a bit green, but it’s quite interesting. Big sweet toasted and roasted malt flavors. Hints of lactose. As in the nose an herbal hops component. Some peat and lightly earthy coffee as well. Slick and smooth in feel. I’m trying to think how it could improve in feel and I can’t come up with anything. Finish is dry with some sweet licorice and tar. Linger gets sweeter with a return to some sticky malt and a touch of hops and bit of pine. Good stuff.

Pours deep onyx with 2-finger brown head. Aroma is roasty dark malt, prunes, licorice, dry hops. Tastes dark malty, roasty, dry, with black licorice, prune, and mild dark chocolate notes. Defined backup hops are in the flavor, and the palate is complex and rich. This is top notch.

Black with a lasting, light brown head. Roasted malt aroma with licorice and a hint of hops. Sweet and malty flavour with a little alcohol.