Bill's Porter
Berwick Brewing Company

On tap at the Moon & Raven Pub:

Poured into a stout pint glass: color is black with brown edges, head is light tan and laces the glass with just a ring on top lingering.

Smell is roasty, a little bitter with some earthy undertones and some grassy hops.

Taste is very pleasant, nice roastiness with more coffee like flavor noticeable, solid bitterness from the roast and moderate hop bitterness, subtle chocolate notes as it warms with light sweetness.

Mouthfeel is moderate, low carbonation but moderate bitterness and crisp/creamy finish on the tongue.

Overall, a very solid porter and another nice ale from Berwick.

 

 

 

The beer pours a dark brown/black color with a thick frothy tan head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has an earthy, robust scent that boasts of patent and special roast malts. It's bone dry with a touch of caramel malt sweetness. The taste is decent. It has an easy drinking, roasted malt character that goes down quick and finishes thin and earthy. The mouthfeel is decent as well. It is a medium/full bodied beer with adequate carbonation. It could use a little more body IMO. This is a drinkable porter, but nothing too exciting.

 

My 3rd time at Berwick Brewing Co, but 1st time enjoying Grumpy Bill's Porter:

Aroma - Malt with hints of chocolate.

Appearance - Dark brown with off white head about 1 finger that lasted the whole pint

Mouthfeel - light to medium and soft on the palate

Flavor - Malt with a nice flavorful chocolate backbone

Overall - At 5% alcohol by volume I consider this one of my top session beers because like a true porter, the roasiness is subdued. The chocolate notes that are evident upon first tasting brought me back to buy a 2nd pint!

A-Deep black/brown with touches of dark mahogany highlights. A medium light tan head slowly reduces to a thin cap that leaves nice coating lace.

S-Light chocolate with touches of nutty maltiness and a touch of earthy bitterness.

T-Light chocolate with a nice backing of dark chocolate and roasted malt bitterness. Subtle touch of body building nutiness. A pleasant and unexpected root beer like finish becomes noticeable with warming.

M-Medium bodied, very smooth with an astringent dryness in the finish. Good lingering bitterness.

D-Tasty, semi-rich and easy to drink. Not a blow you away brew but it certainly goes down easy. My pint disappeared before I even had my notes written so I had to get another!

The Porter pours a deep brown with a compact off white head.
Nose of bitter chocolate with a slight acidity to it. Deep, roasty, caramelly malts come through with a slight trace of herbacious hops.
This beer is silky smooth with deep cacoa flavors which are a bit acidic in the mouth, but smooth out in the finish,
This is a medium bodied brew that can definetly work as a good session beer. It is a bit chalky but can definetly be drunk over the corse of a night.

Had this one on tap today at the brewery.

Appearance: Pours dark brown with a 1 finger slightly off white (butter cream to khaki) crown that displays good retention and some lace.

Smell: Roasted malt, hints of chocolate, caramel, and a nice coffee note.

Taste: Same as smell but the coffee doesn't come through much.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and moderately carbonated.

Drinkability: Fairly sessionable but the mouthfeel holds it back a bit.

I heard they are releasing an Imperial version of this next week and I'd love to try it.

A: A rather sloppy pour from the growler produced a monstrous foamy head that was 3 fingers plus in height and beach sand in color sitting atop a pitch coal viscose body. Retention was good with some cavenous pours developing while leaving a huge splattery for a lacing along the glass walls. An abundance of micro-bubbles cling and form a band around the glass both near the top and bottom portion of the glass getting things off to a rather good start.

S: The nose was light in strength with some freshly brewed coffee and a touch of smoothly roasted grains finishing things off.

T: The flavor was similar to the nose with smooth burnt husky grains and coffee grounds coming through. My first impression was it felt a bit light in the very beginning, but it quickly redeems itself revealing a roasty dunkin donuts coffee flavor that left a nice residual of wet coffee grounds for a fade. Dry chocolate, silky wet ash and earthy soil hints also contribute making for a very smooth and rich experience.

M: The mouthful continues its trend of unique smoothness with an almost oily texture and medium body. The reward comes after the swallow with a tongue coating roastiness of freshly brewed coffee grounds and earthy hints.

D: Drinkability is where this shines the most, an exceptionally easy drinking porter with a solid coffee presence makes this growler worthy and very sessionable material. My growler vanished right before my eyes with hardly a hesitation. My recommendation would be to pick up two growlers on this one.

On tap at Berwick Brewing Company's 2nd Anniversary celebration on 1/23/10. Served in a pint glass.

Pours black with a thin covering of light mocha foam. This stays creamy around the edges, with some thin wisps in the center, leaving some patchy foamy lacing back. The aroma is fairly roasty in the nose, with some noticable astringency from the coffee character. Chocolate, and to a lesser extent, caramel malts mix with earthy hops to give this a sticky underlying tang in the nostrils.

Roast and coffee are at the forefront of the taste, with chocolate and caramel (and maybe even a wee bit of molassas flavor) giving this a silky sweet middle section, while earthy hops end things with a gritty and firm bitterness that pulls up the rear. Roast and hops linger for a bit after each sip but not overly so. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a sharp and crips prickle to the carbonation, while a lot of that sweetness sits underneath with a more slick feel.

This was my first ever beer from Berwick Brewing and this left quite the favorable impression. Well balanced, robust, and very drinkable, this was an all around solid Porter.

On tap at Berwick Brewing's 2nd Anniversary celebration on 1/23/10.

A - Deep brown body with brick red and burgundy highlights around the edges and half an inch of creamy, nougat-colored head that settled into a thin, wispy film, leaving behind a splash of lacing on the glass.

S - Dark roasted malt with a prevalent chocolate presence, especially after the liquid warmed up a bit. A hint of earthy hops, coffee and slight nutty astringency also emerged, giving the porter a well-rounded aroma profile.

T - Flavor is ultimately quite roasty with plenty of coffee character. However, the chocolate aspect of the porter really comes to the forefront in the middle, followed by quite a bit of nutty attributes in the backend through to the finish. Concludes with an earthy, herbal hop bite and some spicy notes in the finish.

M - Medium bodied and subtly carbonated with a slight dry, astringent finish, although ultimately ends with plenty of bittersweet character on the palate.

D - Really solid porter that ranks up there with some of the best in the area. Bill's Porter offers a nice blend of roasted malt, earthy hops and chocolate sweetness.

Just tapped this week. The porter appears a nearly opaque chestnut color with about a finger of creamy ecru foam. The head leaves a minimal lace in its wake as I sip my way through the glass. Nose and flavors consist of rich roasted cereal grains, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, fresh coffee notes, a good amount of caramelized malt, roasty and malty, earthy hops. A few notches better than medium bodied and amply carbonated. The freshness of this one really contributes to the drinkability. Just a well made porter overall.