Zywiec Porter

Brewed by Bracki Browar Zamkowy (Zywiec Heineken)
Style: Baltic Porter
Cieszyn, Poland

Pour a very dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma first of all is banana! Crazy! Then espresso and toasted + roasted malts. There’s some soft alcohol as well as oatmeal in the background. For a porter there a fair bit of sweetness (banana and caramel). Flavours are quite different, with cocoa, roasted grains (almost charred) and ash. Quite soft though. Delicate alcohol. Quite a lot of sweet caramel notes still. Thick, rich body. Great creamy carbonation. Warming alcohol on the back of the palate.

Very dark, tan head. Aroma of burnt coffee. Taste of choclate and raisins, slight bitter finish. Interesting.

Bottle from some alcohol-shop in Krakow. Pours a black/very dark brown color with a small beige head. Aroma is roasted and malty with nice traces of chocolate. Flavour is also roasted with coffee, chocolate and liquorice. Body is medium, and the liquid is very smooth. I like it! Would love to try it again. It was very nice after a lot of premium lagers otherwise found in Poland...

Blind tasting - Wow...waaay surprised when I found out I was drinking the Zywiec. It was a nice reddish-brown pour, but the smell was nasty. Smelled of limp malt and band-aids. Band-aids! Taste was a bit of chocolate and a little malt, along with some subtle coffee. Of course, all those flavors were hidden under the intense metal flavor. It tasted like I just licked up some iron shavings. It was nice and creamy, but at that point that just meant the iron shavings were creamier. This bottle wasn’t out-of-date...did I get a bad one?

Surprisingly, found at a Duncan’s (chain bottle shop) in Lindisfarne, Tasmania. Black as a stout with a beige head. Aroma of coffee and liqueur fruit, with a taste of rich dark coffee and raisins/plums. Dry, bitter finish with a thick substantial palate. Difficult to pick the awe-inspiring alcohol content. Fantastic!

0,33 l bottle as a gift. Poured black with a fine creamy beige head what diminishes slowly and disappears never. Fine liqueric aroma of plum and coffee, some sweet and deep roasted character with a hint of vanilla and cocoa. Oily body with a strong and deep, roasted and balanced flavor, dark chocolate and cocoa, fine dark fruits. Dry, woody and liqueric finish. Absolutly delicious one.

Now I was really looking forward to try this beer, and luckily found it in almost every grocery store in Poland. A dark brown, almost black colour with a beige head that leaves a nice lacing on the glass. The aroma is strong and pungent - dark malts, milk chocolate, dark caramel and fruity plum/cherry liquor. A lovely sweet coffee flavour with a not-so-pleasant metallic note. Really pronounced maltiness mingles with complex alcohol flavours. Coats your mouth and leaves a fine nutty aftertaste. The alcohol is well integrated with the sweetness and a pretty rough bitterness, that dries the finish when you wouldn’t expect it. Superb beer, I’m glad I still have a six-pack in the cellar.

Aroma of coffe, toffe and metal. Strong black apperance. The taste is a bit bitter and souer with hints of metal. The alcohol is very present in the aftertaste.