Score: 84
2012 vintage bottle served in a GLASS and enjoyed on 06/04/13.
Appearance: Pours a coffee color with two fingers of beige head that settles to a thin coating and ring around glass. Good lacing and retention. Pretty typical porter appearance. 4/5
Smell: Raspberry, raw chocolate and faded hops. Some generic berry jamminess too. Alcohol presence is faintly noticeable. There is a light amount of brown sugar, oak and licorice in the mix too. The barrel character present in the nose is very minimal. As this beer warms up, the berry jamminess increases in intensive, and the aroma approaches that of a Bramble knock off at room temperature. 4.25/5
Taste: Faint hops, milk chocolate, brown sugar, and a hint of vanilla upfront. Then the raspberry jamminess kicks in which is nice at first, but then an odd stale hops flavor kicks in towards the finish and derails this brew. There is a minimal amount of faded barrel character. I really like the interplay of the chocolate and raspberry notes here, but the stale hops flavor in the finish is not pleasant and it overrides the quality "upfront" flavors of the brew. As the beer warms up, the stale hoppiness fades some, more milk chocolate and some oak comes through, and the raspberries flavor becomes slightly tart in a good way. Notes of cocoa too. I am not a fan of the oak presence at room temperature. 3.5/5
Mouthfeel: Just shy of medium bodied. This brew is over carbonated, and it kills the mouthfeel. Not very dry for a porter, mildly sticky and sweet. I like the berry acidity and sweetness here in tandem with the bitter notes. 2/5
Overall: The over-carbonation and stale hops/oakiness kill what would otherwise be a nice Bramble-like porter. Perhaps this was better fresh?
Cost: $20 for a 750 ml bottle.
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