Hoogstraten Poorter
Brouwerij Sterkens N.V.

 

Copenhagen 18/12 2020. 75 cl play bottle with both a cap and a swing cap in case you are not able to consume the whole bottle at once. From Kvickly, Østergade, Middelfart. Small drawing on the label of a Belgian version of Robin Hood standing in front of the St. Catharina Church in Hoogstraten.

Pours unclear, dark maroon with a big off-white head. Bubbly. Settles as a thin layer of foam struggling to cover the surface of the beer. Crawling up the sides of the glass. Moderate lacing.

Aroma is medium intense with a sweet malty odor mingling with a roasted scent. Caramel, toffee, hints of brown sugar. Dark roasted malts.

Light carbonation. Medium thick, soft, lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is medium intense with a strong sweetness followed b a lighter bitterness. Aftertaste is sweetish. Lingers for a while. Finish is sweet and roasted.

Decent dark and roasted beer. I somehow had expected something a bit heavier when purchasing a giant, heavy clay bottle.

Nice easy drinking porter. Lots of malty, sweet cocoa. Really nice for a warm day, not too heavy.

So I grabbed this during my trip to CA because I have never seen this one.
Before I opened it I thought I will be drinking a whole new style and a high quality beer with a special bottle. Because it is very expensive. Then I opened it, what the x
OK. So it is a porter with very mild roast malty smell. Taste is very weak. Feels like a normal porter with water...
Any high 88 or 89 American porter will beat this one easily. And the price is over 10$ for a 750ml bottle. With same price you can buy a world class Belgian Quad or goose island bourbon county stout....

 

This was a father's day gift. Four years ago. I stuck it in my aging boxes and took it out this weekend since my beloved son in law who bought it is over.

It pours a pretty dark brown with moderate, continuous head. Very nice looking. The aroma is not very pronounced, it smells like beer. But still, there is a resemblance to what bug Baltic Porter are like.

It tastes nothing like a Baltic Porter. It is smooth and tastes very much like a German beer. It's odd. I was in France earlier this year and so many things tasted Belgian, and this thing is German tasting.

Recommended, but age it, like I did.

Hoogstraten POOrter @ 6.5% , served from a pot stopper 750 ml bottle
A-pour is murky brown from the pot stopper bottle to a amber/crimson in the glass with a huge foamy tan head leaving a spotty lace everywhere
S-poo
T-couple of sips and its a drain pour
MF-huge carbonation ,
Ov-my worst tasted beer of 2018 ,
prost LampertLand

Pours very dark amber, a beautiful oatmeal colored foam, and there’s a lot that is quite thick.
Aroma: sweet, bread, candy , Belgian yeast, brown sugar, stone fruit
Taste: there’s a taste I look for that I call well water, very minerally, I really like it, it’s very bubbly, bready , more candy, deep dark brown sugar almost caramelized.
It drinks very easily, quite mild but great flavor.
My type of beer, I will absolutely buy it again!

 

 

This beer demonstrates the Belgian effort at stouts and porters is nothing to be taken seriously. How this beer can be anything more than a Belgian double might only be because of its black velvet color. I didn't detect and layering of roasted malts; only candy. Not uncommon ... for a different style though. This is not a porter! I have to rate this beer according to it being labeled a porter.
With that out of the way, I would buy it again, though the $13 price seems in justification first it's unique bottle and clever art. Maybe good as a gift for a fellow drinker.

 

 

 

 

Found it in a back cellar in a little local grocery store. Liked the bottle, liked the name. Also couldn't say no to a Belgian porter. Best by date was still over a year away from now (8/2016)

Poured a nice black to brown with a tan, fluffy head. Obviously quite carbonated. Held to the light, it has a rust read, brownish hue. Looks good!

Smells sweet, like a sweetened oatmeal. Some fruity tones very apparent. Surprisingly not so much an all dark fruit but of apple and maybe grapes. It has a brightness to it.

The taste really throws me off. It isn't that it is bad. It is good. But I do not sense much roastiness that I look for in a porter. It DOES have a very luminous fruit character, like apples, a little banana, some toned down citrus such as lemon. Maybe some cherry notes. A bit plummy. It is just a bouquet. Which is an interesting point that I was not expecting. There is a touch of roast as it warms but it is very subtle. Maybe a hint of coffee. You can get a sense of the Belgian yeast above the roast and coffee. The yeast seems to eventuate the fruit bouquet.

The mouthfeel is quite effervescent at first. I even felt like I poured it relatively vigorously. The bubbles held on which is a good thing, they mellowed off a bit which was good. The body was medium to light in my opinion. It harkened to the drinkability of an English porter which I do love about it. I'd say it is right about where it needs to be for a Belgian beer and a porter in general. I could have used a pinch more malt thickness though.

Overall, I think the Baltic Porter style listed here must be a mistake. In no way in my mind does it even come close to a Baltic Porter for me. I would much more associate it as an English porter… obviously done in Belgium. The price was a bit steep, but I think the cool stone bottle was worth it for the overall purchase. It's a good story beer and a drinkable interesting one at that. I think this would be a great beer to introduce people to different dark beers and make an interesting presentation at the same time. I might buy this again some day should I see it and have a bit of extra money to spend.