Baltic Porter
Mash House Restaurant & Brewery, The

 

The wife surprised me with a growler of this - an excellent surprise!

It poured nearly black with a thinnish brown head. The smell was coffee and dark chocolate, not very assertive but pleasant. Taste was more of the same, with a nice roasted flavor and prickly carbonation. It went down silky smooth - I agree that this could very well be a "sessionable" Baltic porter.

Sampled this at the restaurant and was impressed enough to take home a growler. What also impressed me was that my parents, driving home from Florida and visiting for the weekend, actually liked this beer. Since they usually just drink Heineken and Beck's, this is indeed noteworthy, as they usually disdain dark beer in all its forms.

Anyway, this brew pours just shy of black with a thin tan head and a fairly weak nose that shows coffee and some chocolate flavors but not enough to get real excited about. Hops seem to be underlying in the smell as well, but I'm not positive.

As I suspected, the taste is well balanced with hops, blocking but not silencing the coffee and roasted tones. Aftertaste is more traditional and quite tasty. Mouthfeel is very smooth and easy drinking. A little light on traditional porter sensibilities (which is probably why my family favors it) but nuanced enough to have broad appeal. Overall, this is easy on the palate and goes down in a flash. As close to a sessionable Baltic porter as I can ever remember drinking.