Smuttynose Baltic Porter

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

Thanks to Cletus for this one. Pours really dark with a huge foamy tan head. Warm dark caramel aroma with darker fruits. Full bodied with creamy carbonation that bites a bit. First tast impression is anise with with some raisin. Plus dark malt. Just a bit sweet. Anise goes and/or turns to coffee. Just the thing for a winter night.

22 oz. bottle from Sam’s Quik Shop in Durham. Very dark brown to black pour with a creamy tan head. Aroma of dark fruit and smoke. Absolutely awesome flavor; caramel, prune, dark chocolate, and coffee. Wonderfully balanced and incredibly smooth. Full bodied and an almost creamy and slick mouthfeel. This is exceptional.

Pleasant aromas and flavors make this a solid porter. Some roasted flavors, a little sweetness, and overall well balanced.

Poured jet black with a thick, tan head and plenty of lacing throughout the glass. Strong coffee, chocolate and roasted malt in the nose. Medium bodied with a smooth mouthfeel and perfect carbonation. Taste is sweet with lots of coffee notes, roasted malt, dark fruit and dark chocolate. Creamy, dry, bitter finish. Excellent!

Bottle. Pours a syrupy dark, coffee color with a light tan head. Aromas of fresh roasted coffee and dark chocolate immediately apparent. Analogous taste with a sweet edge. Heavily bodied. Very good, but hits the guts like lead. Very potent. Good stuff.

(bomber from j12601). Black color. Large tan head which is mostly diminishing. Aroma and flavor of alcohol, coffee, and very light fruit. Avg duration. Light alcohol finish. Slick texture. Soft carbonation. Spare lacing.

This one caught me off guard. I took a sip and, without anyone else in the room, said "Wow". Thought I had already rated this but was mistaken. Visually, this one is about as close to midnight as a porter can be with a latte colored head that leaves Rorschach inkblot-test lacing. I watched as a massive bubble popped, leaving a huge crater in the foam; staying 30+ seconds before melding into the rest of the froth. The aroma is all cocoa, molasses, and dark fruit. The flavor shows vanilla, chocolate, brown sugar, and molasses. Medium mouthfeel bordering viscous. A very good beer.

Sampled from a 22 oz brown bottle this beer poured thick, black and had a large dark brown head that lingered. The aroma was sweet and toasty with notes of cocoa, raisin and plum. The flavor was toasty and roasty malts, dry cocoa, moderate floral hop bitterness and interesting notes of plum, cherry, port wine, wood, coffee and bourbon. The finish was long and dry with cocoa and raisin lingering. Thick and full bodied. The alcohol was fairly well hidden. Excellent.