Br'er Porta'
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Opaque chocolate brown with a thin rim of amber along the bottom edge of the glass. Up top was a golden crown of sponge-like foam that was surprisingly persistent. As the beer fell with drinking, the glass was festooned with thick rings and thinner sheets of lace.

For those who don't get the connection, Brer Rabbit is a brand of molasses and Br'er Porta' is a porter brewed with molasses. I wish the nose had been more powerful and I wish that it contained more than a hint of molasses. The only other scents were sourish dark malt and perhaps a little anise.

The first mouthful of BP wasn't impressive... and things didn't improve much as the ounces passed. My guess is that it fell short of what was intended, though it's difficult to know for sure. The 'cut to the chase' version is that it was too thin, too sour and not very molasses-like.

At the risk of being thought an idiot (won't be the first time, nor the last) for suggesting changes in a field that I know very little about... here goes. This offering needed more malt to fill it out, give it more sweetness, and give it some needed flavor depth. It also needed to have its tartness cut by two-thirds and its molasses flavor tripled.

The finish of each mouthful was the best... when the unripe fruit faded and a minor flash of bitterness appeared on the scene. Coffee and chocolate were in the background, with the first of those being slightly more prominent. As already noted, the body/mouthfeel wasn't up to snuff. It was too thin and was underbubbled, even for a cask beer.

In Song of the South, Br'er Rabbit punches and kicks the Tar Baby until he becomes hopelessly stuck. Unfortunately, unless Br'er Porta' gets an overhaul, it isn't likely to stick in my memory banks much past today. A molasses porter is a great idea, so I hope to see this one again.