Dirty Angel
The Flying Horse Bar & Brewery

 

 

On tap at the Brewpub. From notes.

A - Poured a murky dark brown with one finger of beige head. Spattered lace and a film of retention.

S - Roasty, fair bit of coffee and chocolate. Sweet aroma.

T - Chocolate, roast, nice malt depth. Some coffee and sweetness there together. Nice.

M - Good carbonation, light to medium body, sweet finish.

O/D - Decent stuff. Flavourful and tasty with good drinkability. Not great, but just a nice surprise and certainly not a beer I would turn my nose up at.

I'm surprised this is the only beer ever named, Dirty Angel, just kinda seems obvious.

Anyways, this poured a nice dark color with a decent head.

My mother-in-law, not a drinker, has taken to sniffing my beer every night said, "Mmm, nice. This is my favorite beer of yours I have smelled". Nice subtle roasted notes, inoffensive.

Tasted great, easy on the old palate. Mellow malty goodness with a medium-body mouthfeel and a quenching carbonation. I polished off the bottle quite quickly.

It's not the best porter in the world, not even the best in Australia, but it did it's job and did it well.

Pours a light bodied, but reasonably dark-coloured reddish brown, with a lot of clarity for such a dark beer. Head is full and voluminous - extremely pleasant and finely foamy, and it leaves some impressive lacing. Overall, it's a good looking beer.

Nose is a bit dull, with some roasted over-browned caramel sweetness, and a little grainy malt with a lilt of organic honey. It's reasonably smooth, but it's also rather light on, and doesn't have a great deal of depth or complexity.

Taste is similar, although the honey sweetness wells a little too much here, leaving a rather cloying organic fruitiness on the back. Some roasted bitterness through the mid, but it gets well and truly overwhelmed by the sweetness, and it needs a bit of dryness on the back to clear it up. Pleasant biscuit characters and a light roasted nut roundness come through later, and these save it.

Feel is very smooth and quite slick, surprisingly bold for the apparent thinness in the body.

I had criticisms of this beer as I drank it, but the more I look at the whole picture, the more pleasant it seems. It's a very smooth drinking beer, and although the sweetness sticks around too long for it to be truly sessionable, it's a pleasant enough beer for a once-off.

Pours dark brown, lasting head.
Aroma shows a fair bit of roasted malt with nice chocolate notes. Not overly complex but enticing.
Flavours include a mix of caramel and roasted malt with hints of cocoa and soft alcohol.
Low carbonation, nice smooth body.

Dark copper with ruby infusion, clear body, beige head that's nice and dense, leaves a thin crown after a few minutes sitting there. Persistent but slow bead. Lace clumps here and there, looks good.

Nose is delectably sweet, lots of toffee and sweet caramel with milk chocolate, dried apple and berries. Not burnt at all, just sweet and rich, maybe the slightest whisper of diacetyl, but the intentional sweetness is well constructed, very enticing smell.

Taste is mostly sweet, with caramel and chocolate blending throughout the palate. Hints of Irish cream on the mid, then finish is slightly more sour, with a sultana character and a light roasted espresso bitterness. Maybe a hint of cola on the front, and light berry on the back as well. Nicely constructed palate, strikes a good balance between sweetness and roastiness. Great porter.

Mouthfeel is the thorn in the paw(ter), really quite thin, even for a porter but especially for a relatively high ABV one. Very watery through the mouth and leaves a little dry. Definitely needs more body to complement the full rich flavour.

Can't hold that against this beer though, otherwise a damn tasty, well-balanced beer. Enjoy this a lot.