Twisted Pine Pearl Street Porter

Tap at brewery during GABF 2009.
Pours a deep black with a nose of plastic chocolate. Flavor follows suit, with a big steaming pile of plastic chocolate dumped into the mix. Average mouthfeel. Not a good beer. At all.

Draught. Pours dark brown with an average, frothy light brown head, somewhat lasting with fair lacing. Aroma is average malt (caramel, nutty, chocolate), light hop (herbs), average yeast (leather) with notes of date and cola. Medium bodied, gritty texture, average carbonation, and a chalky finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness and bitterness, light acidity.

(draft). Black color. Small tan head. Strong malt/coffee aroma and flavor. Avg duration. Astringent finish. Slick texture. Moderate carbonation. Spare lacing.

Bottle. Chocolate milk, roast and coffee in the nose is masked by a moderately strong butter/diacetyl presence as well as some dusty/moldy milk powder and some peppery asparagus/vegetal notes. Overcarbonated with a slightly weak body, certainly weaker than I would expect for Baltic porter - but let’s be serious, I didn’t expect anything close to true Baltic porter from Twisted Pine. For porter, even, the body is lacking depth and roundness, poor malt presence all around, really. Mildly hoppy in the finish... pretty much your typical chocolate/coffee/toast. Worse as it warms.

Bottle poured a translucent dark brown with a small diminishing tan head. Aromas of dark chocolate, coffee, licorice and light roastiness. Palate was medium bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of dark chocolate, licorice and roastiness with a smooth dry lingering chocolate finish.

12 oz bottle. Pours dark brown with a large frothy tan head that retains well going to a thin film eventually that laces the glass.

The aroma is grainy chocolate malts and stale coffee.

The flavor is watery chocolate malts and some dark fruit. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and watery.

Overall, it showed promise but could have been so much better. It would’ve been better if bigger and less grainy and watery.

Bottle. Head is initially average sized, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is dark brown. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (chocolate/cocoa, roasted grain), with a note of vanilla, hint of blueberry. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Simple but ok.

12oz bottle 5/26/09 (Courtesy of RSRIZZO)-Pours black with a nice big loose tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee, and slight sweetness. Starts with a weird fizzy carbonation then chocolate and some sweetness. This light to medium bodied porter is quite tasty and well balanced. A bit light.