Pot Hole Porter
Great Waters Brewing

Had a chance to try this cask conditioned beer at the brewpub. Served in a Great Waters pint glass at the proper cellar temperature of 52 degrees. Fun to watch the pour and downward cascade. Head is full and foamy, two fingers thick. Color is deep and rich dark brown. Smell is roasted grain, a little chocolate and coffee, and lightly fruity. Lots of chocolate malt in the taste, like a porter should be. Nice complexity of flavors, and all well balanced. No fizzy carbonation bubbles make it creamy smooth. Very good indeed.

Step off the plane and head to the nearest brewpub is what I say! And with great fortune, there's a beer available on cask! This brew poured with a soft, light tan head that is just awesome in appearance. The color is not quite black, and certainly at least deep brown. The nose consists of big chocolate notes and slight hints of licorice. I'm sensing a medium body with a smooth velvety mouthfeel to it, even buttery slick if I may. There are clear earthen and wholesome overtones with subdued chocolate and caramel flavors complimenting well. It finishes with an oatmeal-like taste with good balance and the continued buttery texture. Smooth as a baby's bottom, and exactly what I was looking for off the plane.

Served in a Great Waters pint at the brewpub. Nice dark color with a foamy, coarsely laced head that formed a mountain on top of the beer. Acidic chocolate smell pervades the nose, with a little old coffee in the background. Taste is solid, and that is about it. Malty, with some chocolate and acidity. Served at 52 degress, according to the beer list, which was perfect. Not bad, if not a little average.

Served on cask at the brewpub at the appropriate 52 degrees, this beer is dark and almost opaque. One can see a dark ruby hue at the bottom of the glass. The brew cascades nicely and leaves a white head of about 1/2 inch. The smell is malty, with a hint of sourness. Thankfully, this sourness does not show up in the taste, which begins with light roasted malt followed by a satisfying chocolate flavor. Cask conditioning smooths out the flavors and makes it very easy to drink. This is not a complex porter, but it is quite satisfying.

Appearance: deep, dark brown, with a fuzzy, light tan head.
Aroma: smooth, mellow, creamy, with nutty hints.
Taste: mild and mellow, medium bodied, with a sweetness in the finish. Missing a lot of flavors I yearn for in a good porter, actually, not much in the coffee'n'cocoa department, lacks a fullness I prefer.
Drinks down nice enough, but in my book, just passable as a porter.

Afterthought: I look at the notes from my St. Paul comrades and clearly we tasted different beers, for they tasted the things I missed. Perhaps I owe it to Great Waters to try this again, next time.

After-after-thought: I'm all for alliteration, but why did they name it after something you like to avoid, that's what I wonder...

This stuff reminded me alot of Young's Dbl. Chocolate. Super yummy. The color is a deep, dark brown with a good light tan head of a stout. Smells good, nice chocolatey aroma and roasted malts. Tastes like it smells, straight up roasted malts and chocolate, with a coffee like back. Very nice and mildly mellow. Maybe some chestnut in there. Good heavy stout-like body and feel and leaves a nice chocolatey hop tang in the mouth. This was one decent porter.

Cask conditioned and at 52 degrees...good downward cascading bubbles for 20 seconds. Head is frothy but light and a good 1/2 inch thick. Dark brown, some light tansfers at the bottom of the glass. Roasty smell, a little fruity. Lots of chocolate in the taste, helped by low carbonation, mouthfeel is dense and creamy. This brew had more coffee flavor and some prune-like tones the last time I sampled it. Still, good flavor, just a spec more bitterness (or the missing flavors -- the bartender didn't know how old the cask was but Great Waters doesn't move a lot of Porter in the hot months) would have added complexity. Drinkable to my tastes.