London Porter (for Sainsbury's Taste The Difference)
Shepherd Neame Ltd

London Porter (for Sainsbury's Taste The Difference)London Porter (for Sainsbury's Taste The Difference)
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From:
Shepherd Neame Ltd
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
English Porter
ABV:
5%
Score:
81
Avg:
3.44 | pDev: 12.5%
Reviews:
10
Ratings:
29
Status:
Active
Rated:
May 08, 2020
Added:
May 07, 2011
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  6
No description / notes.
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Ratings by bros:

  None found.

Photo of Casmir
Reviewed by Casmir

3.44/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Look - Very dark. Clear with nice thick foam. OK lacing.
Smell - Malty, roasty. Not too powerful.
Taste - Foam creamy. A lot of coffee and roasted barley. Medium bitterness.
Feel - Full-bodied. Lasting heat after few sips. Good bitterness.
Overall - Decent Porter, but without any "fireworks", still enjoyable.
May 08, 2020
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.77 by Dave1999 from North Carolina

Dec 24, 2019
 
Rated: 3.14 by RockyM72 from Florida

Aug 02, 2019
 
Rated: 3.62 by Neilos from England

Apr 10, 2019
Photo of JonnoWillsteed
Reviewed by JonnoWillsteed from England

3.94/5  rDev +14.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
L- Effectively black. Held by a light bulb I can only just make out how ultra deep chestnut it is at the bottom corner of the glass. Pours with an ultra-fine pale tan head of 1Cm that forms lacing the whole way down the glass, and still has a couple of mm of head 20 minutes after pouring; veeery unusual a head holding this long.
S- When I opened the bottle I was hit by a waft of cannabis smell, quite a surprise. Up closer it's a more legal blend of deep roasted coffee.
T- Coffee again, deep and intense. In fact I'd liken it to a fresh brewed iced espresso.
F- It has an alcohol-like tang which is surprising for a beer as relatively mild as 5%. It's also surprisingly refreshing for a 'black beer'. Nothing stands out as being a out of place/out of balance.
O- I'm surprised this does not rate higher here. This is presently rated lower than Guinness, which in my view unless you're buying it hand-pulled from the barrel [not on CO2 tap] is about as fake a product, a product of marketing, as you might find. And this beer currently rates lower than Guinness does. How does that make sense? I never liked Guinness from a CO2 tap, or cans/bottles, and hence most of my life I had an aversion to all black beer. Three years living in Germany changed my mind; some of their Schwarzbier is superb. I still wouldn't drink Guinness even if were free - except on hand-pull - but this one from Shepherd Neame is just superb, I really like it, I'd happily buy it again. I can see why it is in Sainsbury's 'Taste the difference' range, it clearly is a cut above.

ps/edit: When I'm trying a beer that's new to me I never read other reviews here beforehand. I also never read any 'tasting notes' on the back lable/neck. All I go with is the beers name and the style is states and the ABV%. Thus it is fascinating to read other's reviews here afterwards, and to see how it scores here. Sometimes you get surprised how others shared your thoughts, other times you can get rather confused by how others don't see things like you do. Martine a few reviews away from mine clearly saw this as I did, the overall rating it had still surprises me.
Dec 11, 2018
Photo of taxandbeerguy
Reviewed by taxandbeerguy from Canada (ON)

3.53/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
500 ml bottle served fairly cold into a pint glass. Purchased while on vacation in the UK.

Appearance - a dark chocolate coloured beer with a nice finger and change of frothy tan head. Medium retention and obviously rather opaque.

Smell - roasty, loads of chocolate and lots of coffee as well. Rather aromatic as a whole.

Taste - hints of chocolate and coffee. Coffee shows better on the aftertaste but there is a thinness and slight sourness to the flavor as a whole. Still pretty decent.

Mouthfeel - thin and a little over carbonated. Finish is moderate, but gassy on the whole.

Overall - certainly not my favourite beer but as far as contract brews for grocery stores go, this is pretty good. Would enjoy again if it were not for the limited time and other English Ales that I've been fortunate to Try.
Jul 31, 2017
 
Rated: 2.91 by TwiggyCZ from Czech Republic

Jul 22, 2017
 
Rated: 4.3 by gtjwilding from England

May 26, 2017
 
Rated: 3.64 by Gooljd from England

Mar 05, 2017
Photo of Martine
Reviewed by Martine from England

4.07/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pours dark opaque brown with a red eclipse into a tulip glass from a half pint bottle. Tan head is two fingers high, moderately retained, leaving decent lacing on the glass, and lingering. Bubbles are small, silky and clingy like a stout.

The nose isn't that strong, but very bitter with dominant bitter cocoa beans, coffee beans, wood smoke, and charred grain. There isn't a whiff of sweetness in the aroma, and with some hints of tobacco, and leather about it. Definately not a 'sweet' porter or a chocolate porter, this is strong expresso.

The taste follow the nose to a T with dominant bitter cocoa and expresso flavours, some spicy liqorice, big roasted and charred grain, and lashings of smoke and ash. It's a very mature porter in terms of flavours with lots of daresay posh notes; tobacco, leather, oak, smoke, and coffee. It's the type of thing you can imagine being drunk at the country club in front of a log burning stove surrounded by tweed and cigar smoke. There is a sweetness to this porter, one that you can't really detect purely because it's serving a balance.

In the mouth if feels light-moderately carbonated and medium bodied. The carbonation is a tad more than I would like for a porter of this calibre but I can live with it at the same time purely because it gives this beer a thickness.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this beer, in truth I was expecting something akin to the Guinness Extra Stout, i.e burnt water, but this was actually very, very nice in all aspects. I'm a big fan of the bitter porter style with little patience for sweet-tooths, and this beer delivers that quite well. Ontop of that it has a real longevity; even when the beer is almost finished that head is still there, the lacing coating the glass like a stout, and those big charry, expresso flavours haven't strayed from my palate one bit.

I would very honestly suggest this porter; for me this is a great find.
Apr 01, 2016
 
Rated: 3.53 by samEBC from Belgium

Feb 23, 2016
Photo of Malt_Man
Reviewed by Malt_Man from England

3.83/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Served cool from clear 500ml bottle into straight pint glass.

L) Opaque nearly black with a red tinge. Off-white bubbly head. Looks the part.

S) A bit metallic. There is roast malt there but it just appears to be a bit lightweight. Not sure I am going to enjoy this one based on the smell.

T) Waay better than the smell! Deep chewy burnt malt is right there straight away. Does have a bit of cola weakness a few seconds after it has gone down, but overall a satisfying porter taste, nice burnt malt bitterness.

F) Quite fizzy but that's ok for me. There is a bitter aftertaste but it does fade in time for the next drink. Can't complain in this department.

O) Well happy with this one. Happy to recommend it to porter fans, and a good price too.
Feb 12, 2016
 
Rated: 3.78 by pchalkius from Germany

Aug 20, 2015
 
Rated: 3.01 by AlexW693

Jul 21, 2015
 
Rated: 3.52 by SpanishUnicorn from Minnesota

Jun 23, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by KeyWestGator from Florida

May 16, 2015
Photo of Compote
Rated by Compote

3.36/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Nice stout, goes down smoothly. Nothing amazing about it, but if you like porter's this is standard, and you'll appreciate.
May 09, 2015
 
 
Rated: 3.5 by endless1408 from England

Dec 16, 2014
Photo of soulgrowl
Reviewed by soulgrowl from England

2.07/5  rDev -39.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5
Basically, this is a best bitter with a little extra dark malt, which makes it taste like.... a best bitter with a little extra dark malt. Not like a porter. It's thin, fizzy, overly bitter, and weirdly acidic. It smells like bottled Guinness and drinks like a not-so-good dark lager. Poor. Both Shepherd Neame and Sainsbury's should be embarrassed. There's no excuse for a 'porter' like this.
Oct 24, 2014
London Porter (for Sainsbury's Taste The Difference) from Shepherd Neame Ltd
Beer rating: 81 out of 100 with 29 ratings