Funnel Blower
Box Steam Brewery

Funnel BlowerFunnel Blower
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From:
Box Steam Brewery
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
English Porter
Ranked #85
ABV:
4.5%
Score:
85
Ranked #21,686
Avg:
3.74 | pDev: 10.16%
Reviews:
39
Ratings:
82
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 15, 2022
Added:
Mar 04, 2010
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  7
No description / notes.
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Ratings by TerryW:
Photo of TerryW
Reviewed by TerryW from Canada (ON)

3.9/5  rDev +4.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4
A bit of a surprise and actually a fairly interesting beer.

Looks decent. Dark walnut pour with a substantial head that settles to a heavy cap and gives good lace.

Lots of vanilla in the nose, malt and sweetness. Unexpected and fairly appetizing once you get past the surprise. A little thin-bodied to drink. Taste of vanilla, semi-sweet chocolate, coffee. Slight bitterness.

Like something you might round up at your local coffee place. A decent enough novelty beer.
Dec 20, 2012
More User Ratings:
Photo of vinicole
Reviewed by vinicole from England

3.75/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Bottle. Dark chestnut in colour. Thin tight head.
Praline chocolate and mild vanilla emanates from the suds.
Sweet in taste as the aroma continues into the flavour. Mildly bitter.
Soft carbonation. Medium body.
Enjoyable after dinner brew.
May 15, 2022
Photo of EmperorBevis
Reviewed by EmperorBevis from England

3.05/5  rDev -18.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
Bottled and part of the Lidl Spring craft beer fest
Pours a jet black body with splatterings of tan head
Aroma is harsh vanilla essence and creme caramel
Flavour is old vanilla coke that has had ice melted into it watering it down
May 05, 2022
Photo of James94
Reviewed by James94 from England

3.87/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
L: Dark brown in colour, slightly hazy, little head, slight lacing
S: Vanilla candy, slight fudge
T: Sweet, mild chocolate, well done toast and malts
T: A bit underbodied

O: 3.75
Feb 01, 2021
Photo of aleigator
Reviewed by aleigator from Germany

4.13/5  rDev +10.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a dark brown color with a huge, beige head.

Smells of melting milk cocolate, brown sugar and flowery vanilla bean.

Offers a thicker, smooth mouthfeel with a sparkly carbonation burst during the beer‘s finish.

Tastes of straight up vanilla infused milk chocolate, additional molasses and an earthy hint of bakers chocolate. Offers a light coffee dryness afterwards, together with a well working toffee backbone. Finishes smooth, velvet, with lots of vanilla cutting through copious amounts of caramel topped bakers chocolate, leading to a creamy, long lasting finish.

Unbelievable that this is supposed to be clocking in at merely five abv, hence the beer produces a powerful flavor intensity. It is chocolate forward, yet it is far away from becoming overly sweet, it features a great vanilla flavor, which lasts from the beginning till the end, without getting one-dimensional. This is a real surprise to me, since I bought the beer in a discounter one year ago, but it manages to hit all the spots.
Mar 02, 2019
 
Rated: 3.05 by Vaulmas from Spain

Jun 03, 2018
Photo of josanguapo
Reviewed by josanguapo from Spain

4.04/5  rDev +8%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 4.25
From Lidl. In Ikea's pint glass. Playing Avernum 2. Milk chocolate and vanilla. Its missing a bit more body and smoothness, and has light metallic notes, but for 1.5€ I cant complain
May 31, 2018
 
Rated: 2.97 by SebTBL from Canada (QC)

Feb 10, 2018
Photo of drmeto
Reviewed by drmeto from Germany

4.06/5  rDev +8.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 4.5
L:
-pours a mahogany brown with copper tinges and a small to medium,foamy,beige head
-low to medium carbonation visible
S:
-coffee,milk chocolate,cinnamon,nougat,brown sugar,vanilla
T:
-Follows the nose + stewed plums, spicy
F:
-medium carbonation
-light, watery body
O:
A damn flavorful Porter with, unfortunately, 0 mouthfeel.
Dec 06, 2017
Photo of captaincoffee
Reviewed by captaincoffee from Virginia

3.81/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours deep umber brown with smaller head that has medium retention and leaves just a little lace. Nose seems to have stayed home as I'm only getting the lightest whiff of sweet vanilla over roasted grain. Fortunately, the beer redeems itself with the flavor. Soft milk chocolate and lightly roasted notes with some of that vanilla are the primary players. Pretty classic profile, although I would have guessed a milk stout in a blind tasting. Nice mouthfeel as well. Overall, a very nice 4.5% porter/stout.
Nov 04, 2017
Photo of jonb5
Reviewed by jonb5 from England

3.55/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Half Litre bottle, poured into Pint Shaker.

A: Very dark auburn colour, slight red around the edges. Small tanned head, poor retention, didn't leave much lacing.

S: Fudge and vanilla.

T: Dark high cocoa chocolate, fudge and some vanilla, lingering bitter finish.

M: Medium to heavy body, smooth, low carbonation.

O: More bitter than other porters, decent character for the strength.
Sep 10, 2017
 
Rated: 4.16 by ikidunot from Canada (ON)

Aug 23, 2016
 
Rated: 3.57 by hdtrice from England

Jul 22, 2015
Photo of DJ-Hophead
Reviewed by DJ-Hophead from England

3.6/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
500ml bottle from Lidl, Bristol - Pours dark brown. No discernible head. Initial strong carbonation which subsided to medium. Smell - coffee, chocolate overtones. Taste - sweet , vanilla, coffee, slight bitter feel. Not bad porter.
Jun 21, 2015
 
Rated: 3.42 by Long813 from Canada (ON)

Apr 29, 2015
 
Rated: 3.78 by steverx8 from England

Feb 06, 2015
Photo of thehyperduck
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)

3.95/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
500 mL bottle from the LCBO; best before Aug 2015. Glad to see another brew from these guys being brought into Ontario, as I rather liked the Dark & Handsome I tried a year or two ago. Served slightly chilled.

Pours a dark, mahogany-copper colour; not quite opaque, with some amber highlights. It's crowned with just over one finger of soapy, light beige-coloured head that soon evaporates, leaving behind a frothy cap and collar, as well as a nice curtain of lace. Subdued aroma, which offers up notes of roasted malt, espresso, vanilla and caramel, with suggestions of toasted nuts and ripe orchard fruit.

A very serviceable, straightforward porter. Roasted grains, caramel and brown sugar provide the bulk of the backbone, with baker's chocolate and a light note of coffee also contributing. A hint of milk sugar sweetness, like you'd find in a milk stout. A touch of vanilla, plum and light smokiness also come through, with the finish characterized by a mixture of bittersweet chocolate and lightly astringent charriness. Medium-light in body, with fairly assertive carbonation levels that provide this porter with a somewhat livelier mouthfeel than I tend to prefer. A very minor complaint, though - this stuff is quaffable as all hell.

Final Grade: 3.95, an impressive B+. This one grew on me a little as I made my way through the glass, forcing me to bump the taste grade somewhat. Box Steam's Funnel Blower is really a very well-made session porter, providing exactly what I want from this sort of beer in ample quantities. If it were available locally I could definitely see myself grabbing a few more bottles, as it's not always easy to find a good English-style porter around here. Give it a shot; you probably won't be blown away, but if you're just in the mood for a solid session porter, you can't go wrong here.
Nov 15, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Devon_ from Canada (ON)

Nov 09, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Wajohnst from Canada (ON)

Oct 26, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by Jerseyislandbeer from Jersey

Oct 19, 2014
Funnel Blower from Box Steam Brewery
Beer rating: 85 out of 100 with 82 ratings