Chocolate Porter
Town Hall Brewery

 

Kudos to my cuz stubob for picking up a growler of this.

It pours to a deep dark brown color with ruby highlights. It forms a nice creamy light brown head. The aromas are of roasted malts, and chocolate, with some coffee notes. The flavor is roasty with a nice light chocolate taste throughout. It finishes with a dry roasted bitterness. It is smooth and creamy and medium-full in body. A good Town Hall offering.

Sampled 10/19/03

Color is a deep dark browny black with a light tannish head about a finger high that fades slowly to a skim always present and good stringy lace. Smell has a light chocolate milk aroma with some mild roasted malts and milder coffee notes. Taste is quite nice, essensially smooth, lightly creamy, starts very milding and soothing, some lighter chocolate and cocoa tones float around in front and builds slowly to a nice chocolatey drying coffeeish finish with a bit of crispness and a touch of drying hops. Swell finish that builds and lingers. Feel is pretty soild medium creamyness and dotted in texture with a nice drying finish lending milk chocolate overlays and slight coffee beans. A very drinkable and easy goin' porter. Quite respectable and quaffable.

Deep black/brown color with ruby red light highlights. Nice 1/2 inch head of tan cream color and excellent lacing properties. Aroma is decently complex, full of a mild coffee roastiness and a milk chocolate sensation. Nice coating body and mouthfeel, spot on. Flavor is a two part affair, starts sweet (too sweet) and chocolatey but drying to a slight bitter raostiness. Certainly a drinkable brew, weighs well in all categories, but the beginning is too much sugary cocoa with milk for me, and the bittering balance doesn't bring it back.

Bitter and sweet chocolate were added to the kettle at the end of the boil.

A mysterious looking deep, murky ruby. Big ol light brown head with great retaining power. Lacing is full. Aroma has subtle coffee tones. Roasted nut. Vanilla bean. Blackened malts. And a lactic sweetness about it. Great combo. Nice velvet like mouthfeel. Silky and smooth. Body is a little better than medium. Flavor starts just a little sweet, and then there is a rush of dry cocoa that follow leaving a powdery feel on the tongue. Milk sugars mingle battle with roasted malt and bittersweet chocolate with the latter winning out. Finish is quite dry and nice. Quite the pleasing blend of flavors. Rogue's Chocolate Stout has got nothing on this one.

Town Hall's new Chocolate Porter pours out a deep brown, with red highlights peeking at the bottom, crowned by a short, creamy light tan head. Aroma is earthy, but overall spare. Perhaps I didn't investigate too thoroughly, for I was anxious to get it out from under my nose and down my gullet.
The chocolate flavor, I've been told, derives from the usage of semi-sweet, and it shows. Body is medium, texture, too, and the drinkability is on the high side. Cocoa flavor has some true presence on the palate towards the middle of the pint, you can really taste it. But it's mever too sweet, too strong, just right. Just the way I like it, too. I'll be reaching for a few more pints of this in the weeks to come!
A few days later, after tossing back 1/2 a growler, I've got to edit my rankings and give this one higher marks, it's so tasty!