Grande Cuvée Porter Baltique
Les Trois Mousquetaires

750 ml bottle into a snifter. 2022 edition. Had 10/3/23.

Pours a mostly opaque dark cola color, with a quarter inch foamy head and light foamy lacing. Aromas of malt, vanilla, coffee, some molasses, light chocolate. Smells herbal and a little smoky. Flavors of chocolate, coffee, malt, some molasses, light plum. Tastes somewhat herbal and there’s a light sweet note when warmed. Smooth, a very good fuller body, well carbonated.

Really enjoyed this. Big chocolate and coffee notes, with solid aromas and flavors overall. Well worth a purchase.

Classy, understated bottle. And practical too, with the malt, hops, flavor notes, serving temperature, and glass suggestion - in French and English. Poured into a St. Bernardus goblet - closest I had to a snifter.

Look: Pitch black and opaque; my reflection stares back at me in the glass. Minimal head even with an aggressive pour, settling to a tan ring. No lacing.

Aroma: Cooling brownies, maple syrup, cedar.

Taste: Fortunately, dryer than the nose. Initial tartness; blackberries, then dark chocolate. The flavor progresses to a rich dessert with apples baked in butter and brown sugar. The finish is smoky and sweet but not cloying.

Feel: Creamy, quite literally; dairy-like, with smooth, light carbonation.

Overall: A very, very delicious porter that strikes the perfect balance of flavor. Booze is scarily undetectable, which is a huge plus. Too many syrupy, thin, boozy porters in the double digit ABV range. I could enjoy this any night.

 

Poured from a corked and caged 750mL bottle into a New Glarus snifter. Pours dark, dark brown but gathers in the glass a shiny black with almost two fingers of light mocha brown head. Cocoa powder with light vanilla, coffee and dark bread on the nose. Taste follows with the cocoa leading the way. Still get light coffee and vanilla in the background but it never gets overly sweet or overly roasty. It is a tad sweet but naturally so. Full mouthfeel with a subdued level of carbonation. It hits harder in the finish but sits on the tongue with a lower level of carbonation. Damn this is good. One of the best beers I’ve had in recent memory. Menacingly dark looking and tasting. Delivers with the chocolate notes. Even as it warms to just above room temp the dark / rye bread makes an appearance but never dominates. Such balance. Such subtleties. So good.

Pours ablack color with no head and light filming.

Smells of roasted malt, bitter chocolate and bourbon.

Tastes of roasted malt, dark chocolate, coffee, oak and vanilla with a lightly bitter boozy warm finish.

Medium heavy body and almost no carbonation. Lush syrupy mouthfeel.

This strong brew is a port wine like sweet sipper.

 

Jet black shimmering body with a hint of brown on the edges near the top, feeding the collar. Smell has incredible malt and cherrywood leading, with notes of bittersweet dark chocolate, dark fruit licorice, vanilla, and coffee supporting in that order of potency. Taste has a sweeter wood impression with molasses and dark fruit being decently strong, but smoky licorice and dark chocolate keep the sweetness in check. Sticky and warm, fuller without being too heavy, drier but with plenty of dark depths. This has to be one of the very best baltic porters I have ever had.

A very dark black beer. Strong beer at 10%. Relatively smooth and doesn't feel boozy going down. Lots of chocolate, Oak barrel, burnt sugar and molasses taste without the sweetness. I like it. It's a good porter, but not my favorite. Either way, Cheers!

 

 

 

Pours out a fairly jet black, viscous and luscious. Large mocha coloured head. Looks beautiful.

First aroma is chocolate raisins, with some prunes/dates, honey and a slight hint of coffee and caramel. Big on raisins and chocolate. Sweet, but not cloying. Hits all the right notes.

Taste is more of the same, and the mouthfeel is very smooth, with almost no hints of alcohol in the finish. Doesn't taste like a 10 percenter at all. Plenty of chocolate, raisins, a bit of vanilla, maybe even a little cherry in there. Really, really nice blend of flavours. The body is a perhaps a little thinner than I would have expected, but it's a minor gripe for such a flavourful, smooth porter.

4.25 all round. Great beer.

 

July 2016: RBESG 2016 in Barcelona. On tap at NaparBCN. Nearly black colour. Sweetish aroma of malts and molasses. The molasses flavour was WAY too sweet for me - at least in a setting like this, a multiple beers tasting.

Undated bottle; drank 8/27/23 @ the Yarchives.

Black/brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a nice, noisy tan head; decent lacing remained.

Fresh earth, dark chocolate & faintly tart plum notes in the nose.

Creamy medium thick mouthfeel.

Dark chocolate, burnt caramel. mild fresh earth & faint tart plum flavors. Kind of a stunner. Even better on draft.

750 ml caged bottle with a new label dated 06/10/22. Deep rich mahogany look, less than a fingers worth of head. A tad sweeter than I would like, but on point with rich flavour, Expands in flavour a bit when it warms up.
Feels perfect in the mouth, goes down easy. Slight bitterness see saws between ok and then being overpowered by sweetness. I'll probably try another bottle for scientific purposes. Pricey.

 

Production date 06/10/22. Poured a 750ml caged and corked bottle into a pint glass. A one finger tan head on black, The head diminished to a ring shortly.
Coffee and cocoa smells.
Very smooth. Sticky. Roasted malts. cocoa. ABV is well hidden. Molasses, smoke. Lots in there. A very mild hop finish.
Medium body and low carbonation.
Top quality. A rare and interesting style.

 

L: Almost black with a 2 finger brown head

S: Bourbon, chocolate, smoke, a bit of ethanol

T: Smoked malt, coffee, sweet bourbon. Ethanol a bit too much for my liking and masks the good flavors.

F: Round and smooth

O: This would probably be more enjoyable at 9% where the chocolate/coffee wouldn’t be masked by alcohol.