King Titus
Maine Beer Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the better porters out there! From a bottle dated 2/8/22!

 

 

L- Almost jet black with a slight tannish pigment mixed in. One fingered head that stays. Very nice. Some rocky bubbles in the head as well. Looks the part and more.
S-Stone fruit, vanilla bean and milk chocolate right up front. Some cinnamon and ginger in there as well. Maybe some nutmeg too. Very nice and inviting.
T-Sweet vanilla and milk up front. Milk chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg. Some black coffee is there as well with the roasted malt. Some earthy undertones in there too. Very very nice. A bit bitter at the end which melds well with the other notes I'm getting. Nothing overboard. Just very solid.
F-Milky in texture, but surprisingly light and sessionable. Nice carbonation that works well with flavor.
O- I really liked this porter a lot. Very drinkable and rewarding. I keep sipping and getting new notes as the beer warms. It's ever evolving, not a beast to drink alcohol wise and interesting enough to keep my focus the whole time. Well done.

16.9oz bottle. Label is stamped for bottling date of '08Feb22'. Advised to drink within 120 days of bottling date.
Very dark brown colored body, with a garnet back lit edge. Fluffy three finger head, with a tan color. Leaves tendrils of lacing.
Aroma is dark roasted malts, with reminders of espresso and dark chocolate.
Taste has a quite sharp dark roasted malt flavor, which is true and clean. Combines sweetness and a sharp barley note. Espresso and dark chocolate swirl about. Complexity continues into the aftertaste.
Creamy mouth feel. Supportive mouth feel.
Well crafted brew.

Look: It pours very dark brown with a brown head. It has excellent head retention.

Smell: Medium roast aromas with chocolate, coffee and some citrus.

Taste: It has chocolate and medium roast flavors with floral notes and a bit of citrus. There is very slight sweetness in the taste with moderate bitterness.

Feel: It has a medium body with a smooth texture. It is bitter, but not unpleasant.

Overall, very good flavors and well balance with pleasant bitterness.

Poured from 16.9 oz bottle into tulip. Bottle on 08Feb22.
A: Pours a dark brown hue with a beautiful finely bubbled 2-3 inch tan head with excellent retention. Leaves delicate lacing on the glass.
S: Roasted malt, toasted marshmallows, and hints of coffee and cream.
T: Lovely strong roasted malt, almond nuttiness, coffee and cream, cocoa/chocolate, and charred wood. Really nice for style!
M: Light body. Roasted bitterness with restrained dark sweetness. Mildly dry throughout. A touch of hop bitterness and astringency in the background to augment. Lingers nicely on the palate.
D: Excellent for style. Not crazy or complex, just quality ingredients brewed to perfection.

 

 

 

500ml brown glass bottle with a pry-off crown cap:

7.5% ABV.

Cacao powder flavour is strong here, and it has a dry powdery soft mouthfeel that accentuates it. Chocolatey without tasting too sweet.

Highly drinkable...entirely moreso than it has any right to be at 7.5% ABV.

Stupidly well balanced.

For a straightforward Porter, it's rather well made. Sure, I might get tickled a bit more by vanilla bean porters or some adjunct/additive-laden offerings (I'm looking at you, Victory At Sea), but this is a solid no-nonsense American porter I could easily kill by the six pack...or would if Maine offered it in 6 packs instead of the $8/500ml format that continually keeps me from revisiting their beers. Definitely quality - and that's what my rating reflects - but far from a beer I'd buy repeatedly sheerly due to price.

B / GOOD

16.9oz bottled 2-8-22, opened 4-24-22.
3 finger tan head on a dark brown body. Long retention and plenty of lace. Malty roasted nose, light coffee and even some grassy/green hop aroma...blind sniff could put this at a Black IPA. Rich and delicious malt flavors. Medium body and carbonation with a soft, creamy mouthfeel. Finishes with a lingering roastiness and a touch of sweetness. Very Good to Outstanding.

Bottle dated 02/08/22 so a couple months old but it takes awhile to get from Maine to Minnesota. Quite the impressive beer for an American Porter. Everything in balance with a wonderful cocoa malt flavor and clean fermentation. Probably not as interesting as an ester rich English Porter but this has its own qualities. Enough earthy hops and bitterness for balance. Carbonation is about the only thing I can nitpick. I feel it is over carbonated and a bit prickly bite that makes the body feel thin.

 

 

 

Pint bottle poured into a tulip. Bottled on 2/8/22 so 5 weeks old. 7.5 abv.
Look: solid dark cola brown, not translucent. Lovely mocha head that persists as a thin ring with some lacing. Definite glass appeal.
Smell: cocoa
Taste: unsweetened chocolate, burnt toast and smoke.
Feel: substantial but not heavy. Light carbonation.

Didnt intend to buy this but glad I did. Will purchase again.

A: Pours a dark brown, nearly black color. Some ruby around the edges. A dense beige head rises to over two fingers. Excellent retention and rings of lace.
S: Full on espresso beans in the nose. Wonderful roasted coffee and bitter sweet chocolate. Simple but excellent.
T: Like the nose, the coffee house roastyness, and espresso beans specifically. Oh I love that bittersweet chocolate. Even some earthy hops round this out in the finish.
M/O: A full body with a good carbonation. There is a carbonated bite here, but just ultra smooth and silky at the same time. So easy and enjoyable to drink. I can come back to this easily.

My only quibble with this, if you can call it that, is calling this a Porter. At 7.5% ABV, why not call it a stout (it has a bigger ABV than their other two available stouts)? Though considering how interchangeable breweries use those terms, its no real issue, outside of at least one of those terms as a style descriptor being not relevant at all. But I digress. Its a great American Porter/Stout, however this particular brewery wants to call it is fine. As always, Maine makes great beers period. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

damn. what a good beer

time to be serious.

L: pours dark brown/black but still lets a little light through, especially at the bottom of the glass. so not quite as pitch black as darker stouts or other porters, but plenty dark. pours a caramelly foamy inch-thick head that sloooooowly decreases into a silky lather over the top that persists through drinking.

S: espresso, smell of walking into a local coffee shop/coffee roaster, a little amaretto, and a hint of hoppiness.

T: creamy, bitter, espresso, long aftertaste. overall relatively medium in body, not super thick, but creamy texture and heavy flavors makes it feel heavier than it is. just a tight, fucking tight beer. like all Maine Beer stuff. feels like an exemplar of the style.

F: (see above)

O: damn, what a good beer. solid porter, very classic and definitely something I will continue to look for in season.

Solid black appearance with thin tan head.
Light carbonation with a just above average body.
Aroma is a bit weak but theres malt,licorice, coffee, a bit of earthy wood but again not overpowering.
Taste is stronger than aroma, almost dry,earthy wood comes out first. Leaves a lingering dryness that didn't completely work for me.
This was not my favorite from Maine but perhaps will try a bottle again in the future.

Craft store beer manager recommendation. He said, “Give this one a try. It might change your mind about porters.” It did not. I do not like porters. I do not like them in the morn. I do not like them watching porn. I do not like them in a glass. You can shove them up your … .

Ok, two caveats: Pohjala Sajand and Yuengling Hershey’s. Every other porter has just been wrong to me.

Poured from a 16 oz bottle purchased from Dorset store; born on 2/08/2022. Pours deep brown - black - with one finger of brownish lacing. Tastes of smokey burnt malt with subtle hint of maple syrup. Substantial - but not thick - feel. Very very good for the style

 

Picked-up a single bottle at Bradford's in Plymouth for about seven dollars. Have had several brews from these guys before. Bottled on date of 2/2020. Carbonation was off a bit, probably due to age.

Poured moderately hard from a large bottle into a snifter glass, forming a finger or two of light tan head that soon faded to heavy lacing. Smell is a very nice smoky malt. Taste is close to the smell, smoky up front soon followed by a delicious malt. Not complicated, but very tasty. A bit shy of medium bodied with pretty light carbonation. Excellent porter overall with a nice smoked character to it.

 

I was rather heady at getting my new job with USPS back in late-Mai & I went a tad overboard at Rieker Bottle Works as a result. I wound up getting several Crowler CANs for The CANQuest (tm), putting them into the basement Beerfrigerator (all reefer CANpartment, NO freezer space) & glossing over them until recently. 8=(

From the Crowler: "Darn Good Beer".

I am still struggling with Crowlers in that, following the resoundingly booming Crack! of the vent, I CANNot seem to get a Glug going without some dribbling due to the placement of the vent in relation to the edge of the lid. I pressed on, though, watching in rapt fascination as it evinced a pseudo-cascade which eventually formed two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-brown head with very good retention. Color was solidly Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing precisely ZERO light penetration. 8=O Nose was redolent with anise & treacle, underlain by Baker's chocolate & a light mintiness. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. The taste was REALLY roasty with a dark chocolatiness that CANbined beautifully with the mintiness to create a liquefied York Peppermint Patty/GS Thin Mint cookie flavor! Mmm. But, don't discount the roastiness when, as it warmed, I beCAN to taste coffee, treacle & anise along with an odd caramel-coconut CANbination. OMFG, was this good! This beer was alarmingly close to a Stout, but if they want to call it a Porter, who am I to disagree? Finish had a slight sourness, so is it possible that they were blending vintages to create this beer?!? If so, I was doubly impressed! If not, then just chalk it up to stylistic integrity. This was the sort of thing that they undoubtedly drank in the back rooms of the Victorian England train stations. Mmm. YMMV.