The Duck-Rabbit Baltic Porter

Brewed by The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Style: Baltic Porter
Farmville, North Carolina USA

12oz bottle, best by 7/07. Deep black with a thick brown head that subsided fairly quickly. Nice aroma - roasted malt, coffee, cocoa, and a hint of anise. Sweet at first, with dark chocolate, mocha, and coffee flavors, then develops some bitterness towards the finish. Long chocolate finish, with some warming alcohol. Full bodied, with silky smooth mouthfeel. Excellent beer. Big thanks to Kenb for including this as an extra in our recent trade.

Dark black in colour, rich tan coloured head, some lacing. The aroma is incredibly smooth and very rich, lots of espresso and coffee, lots of dark chocolate, light alcohol, some dark fruits. The flavour is again very rich, chocolate cake, very smooth, lightly sweet but not overpowering, licorice, good amount of coffee. Mildly bitter mouthfeel, lightly acidic, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes lingering, lots of chocolate and coffee, roasty bitterness. Very small amounts of alcohol detected which is a bonus. The beer gets more complex as it warms. Deserving of its standing.

355ml bottle obtained in a trade with <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?U target=blank>JCB, thanks Jason.
2006 Bottle.

Deep black with a dark brown head, forming medium sized bubbles and settling into a half-inch layer rather quickly. Nose is a bit strange, like chocolate and chile pepper sauce, I can’t really get into it right away. The dark and bitter smelling chocolate is nice, and the malted milk ball presence as well, but there’s this overbearing pepper smell that doesn’t fit, and I generally like pepper beers but in this case that scent is a bit out of place. Perhaps it’s some age of the bottle coming through, some oxidation and staleness. Thick and vinuous up front, more chewy and oily over the middle and into the finish. Dark and bitter chocolate is there, as is an unsettling burnt cereal grain flavor, and some smoke that is largely out of place. It’s big, sure, and quite thick, but the flavor of motor oil or tire rubber is not so good. Very astringent and sour in the finish, and I can think of about a half-dozen other imperial stouts I’ve had in the last two years that taste quite similar. I was hoping to really like this one but I guess that’s not the case.

Best By Date June 2007, Sampled March 2007
Pours with a two-finger thick, creamy, light brown colored head. The beer shows a clear, rich, dark chocolate color as I look at it streaming into my glass, but otherwise it is an opaque black color as it sits in my glass. Hints of burnt raisin aromatics greet my nose at first and in fact a strong burnt fruit character is very evident in the nose (notes of prune, fig, cherry and rum-like notes as well). Underlying this burnt fruit character is a dusty chocolate note as well as a hint of burnt grain acidity and some light, yet clearly dark roasted coffee aromatics. There is a touch of alcohol towards the end (part of that rum aroma) and there also seems to be a touch of green apple here as well. I really like how this beer projects the aroma of burnt fruit; yes there is lots of char-character, but it reminds me of charred, concentrated fruit and there is still some bright fruit aromatics here as well.

Sweet up front and it still maintains that fruitiness in the flavor as well. It finishes with a stronger, dusty chocolate note than was in the aroma, which is coupled by lots of toasty malt flavors. This does not have a whole lot of perceptible hop character; the finish is quite smooth with only a touch of burnt grain derived bitterness. This beer has been served lightly chilled (58ºF / 14ºC), which seems to accentuate a soft creamy character. This beer rests with a soft thickness on the palate, it is not syrupy, but is certainly approaching thick and juicy. Burnt fruit notes of raisins, prunes are most notable, but there are also notes of burnt figs, burnt dried berries and even something evocative of burnt, concentrated tropical fruit (perhaps some charred papaya notes). This beer is fairly low on roast-derived acidity, in fact the roast malt character is quite a bit less than one would expect from something like a stout. My guess is that the brewer used a light hand with the darkest most heavily roasted malts.

This is an interesting beer, I don’t know if I would want this on a regular basis, but it has certainly shown a mix / balance of flavors that are not usual for the darker American brews; it is almost something that I would characterize as a fresh English Imperial Stout. Too bad this is not bottle conditioned, it might have been quite interesting in 20 years. There is something about this beer that does not allow me to shake the idea that I am drinking burnt prune juice (of course an exaggeration, but still). In the end this is very interesting, even a bit education, definitely good, but still not quite something I would want a big bottle of (certainly the 12oz format is more than enough, even almost too much).

Bottle, (thanks kp!), pours a deep brown/black like coke, with a brown head that dissipates to a thin rim, no lacing. Aroma of bread, plum/raisin, chocolate, brown sugar and coffee. Flavor really brings it home, and follows the aroma nicely. Medium on the palate with just a touch of carbonation and a mild warming alcohol finish. It’s easy to see what all the fuss is about on this one; lots going on all the way through. More, please!

this beer is beautiful, the color of a rusty, charred fire truckwith a light brown head. the nose and flavor are filled with smoke, port, cinnamon, chocolate cedar, and pine. and the mouthfeel is just incredible, as hearty a beer as one could desire. a quite exceptional beer.

(Bottle, thanks Ughsmash) Pours extremely black. Dark malt with some burned notes in the aroma and some caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, sour coffee, nuts, raisins, dark bread, madeira and plums. Maybe some hops underneath all the malt with hints of citrus. Medium sweet nose. Caramelly, roasted flavour with a late citrus sourness. Also tones of burned coffee, dark chocolate, dark bread, raisins, prunes and some smaller notes of brown sugar and tobacco. Rather smooth yet a bit sticky mouthfeel. Burned, citrusy liquorice aftertaste. Medium to full body.

12 oz. bottle courtesy of TURDFERGUSON (thanks!). A beautiful brownish-black with a decent amount of tan head. Great aroma of biscuity malts along with touches of raisins, chocolate and dark fruits. This bodes well. Flavor is more of the same, really get the raisins in there, with a little chocolate and alcohol in the background. The finish is good also, ending with more of a roasty, coffee flavor. Moderate to full palate with little carbonation. This is a truly awesome beer, worthy of all the praise. I only have one more bottle though...I’ll definitely be looking for more come the end of the year.