Upland Bad Elmers Porter

Brewed by Upland Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Bloomington, Indiana USA

(12 oz bottle: Obtained 23-Sep-05 in trade with atpayne, thanks Adam!) Bottled March, 2005, so one year old. I’ve been quite happy with the beers I’ve sampled from Upland so far, but this porter leaves a bit to be desired. First off, the nose may be toasty and lightly chocolaty, that’s good, but it’s also herbal, vegetal and green peppery, maybe some dried leaves in there, something organic that doesn’t taste good. Chocolate and moderate toast in the flavor as well, somewhat bitter, lightly sweet, finishing with plenty of that chocolate plus a hint of smoky roast. But that odd herbal, vegetal character is plaguing the flavor just like it did with the nose. Medium body, pretty typical carbonation level. Dark brown in color, topped by a half inch of light tan head that slowly settles to a thin, incomplete layer. Scattered patchy lacing sticks to the glass. Not a porter I’d want to drink again.

Very, very, very big head - as mentioned by notalush. Looks good, once the froth dissipates. The aroma is kind of fishy - something in it reminds me of the sea, mixed with roasted malts and topsoil. The flavor is pretty dank too: very dry, even salty (which is not a way I’ve described any other beer to date). Metallic finish, but a hint of pleasant hops in here.

Thanks to atpayne for throwing this in as a trade bonus - first of all, it took me five minutes just to pour this beer into a glass - even slow pouring produced a huge amount of large-bubbled foam, so I had to pour a few ounces at a time and, literally, scoop the foam out of the glass with my hand so I could pour more - it initially looked like a pint glass filled with brown fish eggs - aroma of chocolate, roasted malt and play-doh - quite dry - medium-bodied - tastes like tobacco mixed into chocolate milk - kind of spicy finish - watery at the end, though - what’s elmer bad at? apparently, making beer.

On tap at brewpub. Dark, little or no head. The aroma was faint/ hard to make out- faintly chocolatey alcohol. Flavour also not super strong, but smooth creamy chocolate, sweet. Roasty finish.

Something had to be wrong with this bottle. I poured about an ounce into a shifter and the glass just filled completly with foam. It looked damn funny, but I probably shouldn’t be laughing at a beer I just poured. So after a combination of two glasses and much waiting, I finally got to the beer. Roasted malt on the aroma, hint of chocolate. Past that there just wasn’t much happening, I thought it was a bit watery, and too carbonated. What was there in terms of flavor was alright, I just didn’t like the feel to it.

On tap at brewpub. I used to really enjoy this beer, but last time at the brewpub it just didn’t do it for me, so I very well may rerate this! Dark, but not impenetrable, with almost no head. The aroma is really not huge at all, but it might be the temperature at which it was served. Roasty, a little sour, not much else detectable. The mouthfeel wasn’t anything special, nor offensive, the carbonation right on for the style. The flavors were that of a typical porter. Roasty, though not too sweet, a little bit of floral hops, some minor chocolate notes and a definite sourness. I never remember this beer as being sour, so maybe this is an old keg/bad batch? They’ve been having problems with their porter pouring lately... so maybe this is related?

12 oz bottle: pours with an enormous light tan creamy foam. Once it finally settles, I am able to get the rest of the dark brown garnet fluid in the glass…though a thin layer of the cream persists. Dark roasted nuts and chocolate malts fill the aroma along with sparse red grapes and light alcohol. Very nice creamy texture. Strong, toasted grain flavours and lactic sourness mix with the darker malts for a very nice, robust, creamy porter.

Bottle form Kevin. Nearly opaque body with a mangy patchy film of bubbles. Taste-light roast, toast, med thinness, sharp CO2, flat cola, almost acetic acid finish. A slightly above average porter.