Southern Tier Porter

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Lakewood, New York USA

Bottle. Wonderful appearance of deep brown with a crimson rim. Black forest cake aroma with coffee and molasses in the background. Lighter palate than expected. Heavy coffee flavour, distant chocolate malt and a mild herbaceousness. A very good porter.

Deep brown pour with a sticky brown head. The nose is really lovely. Lots of sweet milk chocolate and a bit of rich herbal character. Aromatic milk chocolate sweetness with very little roast. The flavour is pretty nice... soft cocoa sweetness and a slight backnote of licorice as well. The malts show a lot complexity throughout. Chocolate and toast along with a light smokiness. A kiss of cola-like spiciness and a touch of saltiness on the back. It’s a pretty solid, medium-bodied porter.

Pours a dark brown with a thin tan head. Aroma is rich and sweet, with espresso, chocolate, caramel, maple notes. Taste is slightly bitter to begin, then moves to a sweeter dark chocolate taste and finishes with an espresso taste. Great progression. Overall a really nice porter.

12oz bottle. Pours a deep brown, almost black body with a finger-width, frothy, light brown head that dissipates slowly and leaves a moderate lacing. Aroma is a sweet blend of malts and roasts with a fruity background. Malty roasts, cocoa dust, grape esters, and nuts. Its really like a brown ale/porter blend. Malty and slightly nutty, yet fairly roasty and cocoa influenced. Flavor is much more porter-like, although it contains the smooth, nutty consistency of a brown ale. Rich, smooth, and sweet malty caramel up front before lots of drier roasts comes in. Stays very balanced, however, with lots of smooth cocoa and slightly lactic chocolate. An underlying hoppy, fruity bitterness as well as a smooth nuttiness guide this into a dry finish with plenty of roasts and nutty chocolates that linger for a long duration. Medium body, full flavored, and very smooth. Overall, a pretty cool porter. Lots of roastiness, but plenty of smooth, nutty caramels and chocolates to balance this out nicely. Very tasty and easy drinking.

Bottle: Very deep amber coloured and - presumably - hazy with a big rocky tanned head; slightly sweetish roast-malty nose with a tinge of molasses, dried fruits and leather; moderate to solid bitter-sweet flavour, medium bodied, a bit fizzy; robust - drier and more bitter - finish: molasses, roasted malt and a tinge of smoke. Tastes a bit like a diluted Imperial Stout......

Dark brown with a ruby glow body with a frothy light-brown head. The lacing and head retention are okay. The roasted malts produce a strong espresso-like aroma, with hints of dark chocolate, caramel, and a bit of dark fruit. Some hops are also present in the smell, giving the beer a nice floral undertone. The taste is a bit smoky, with a fair amount of sweetness, and a wonderful coffee-chocolate taste profile. Some subtle hop character. The after-taste is moderately bitter, with lingering coffee notes, and just a hint of dark fruit. The beer is very smooth on the palate. It has a very roasty, full flavoured mouthfeel and drinks quite easily. Overall, it is a good full-bodied, yet sessionable porter.

THOUGHTS: Nice beer, but only a decent porter. The flavor and aroma were nice but a little thin. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a very dark red that looked black in the glass with an average, off-white head that left good lacing. The aroma was moderate roasted malt, chocolate and coffee along with some cherry. The initial flavor was sweet, acidic and bitter; while the finish was acidic and bitter. There was roasted malt, sour coffee, some chocolate and a little hops. The light to medium body was a bit oily and then dry with lightly fizzy carbonation and a dry, lightly astringent and lightly metallic finish.

120z bottle from the LCBO Pours a jet balck with almost no head the aroma is strong coffee and roasted malts The taste is coffe and sweet chocolate with a slightky sweet slightly bitter finish yummy