Aporkalypse Now
HogsBack Brewing Company

 

 

 

Bottle: Poured a clear black color stout with a small brown foamy head with limited retention and no lacing. Aroma of smoked malt with weird off flavours is not really enticing. Taste is a mix between some weird off grainy flavours with malt with gross residual sugar notes. Body is light with medium carbonation. I have a hard time understanding how this beer was ever though as a good idea.

 

 

650 ml Bottle served cold into a pint glass. Purchased for about $8 CDN from LCBO. Packaged October 29, 2014.

Appearance - the beer poured the darkest shade of ruby nearly black with a tiny tan head and no retention. Dark and mysterious.

Smell - oatmeal and a bunch of malts, just a hint of smoke and bacon governing a slight rauchbier type of aroma. Smoke and bacon from the bottle are more prevalent than from the glass.

Taste - some light oatmeal flavours before a faint sweetness almost like grain dipped in maple syrup before finishing a bit smokey. While decent, it didn't have the bacon impact I was expecting. Taste doesn't last on the tongue either.

Mouthfeel - too thin for my liking, well carbonated, but lacked the creamy feel I usually associate with oatmeal stouts.

Overall - it's different, but not really that interesting without a substantial body or a bigger bacon presence. Worth a shot if you're truly curious but probably won't spend hard earned cash on this again.

650 mL bottle picked up at the LCBO; bottled on Oct 29 2014 and served slightly chilled. The fact that the ingredients list does not actually include 'oats' or anything else along those lines leaves me feeling a little confused.

Pours black as night, producing just over a finger's worth of somewhat dense, creamy, light tan-coloured head at the surface. It wilts away steadily over the next few minutes, soon settling into a cap of foamy bubbles and a narrow collar. The aroma is vaguely reminiscent of a smoked beer; caramel and molasses sweetness, roasted malts and a hint of coffee provide the backbone, with hints of dark fruit and some smoked meat notes. Nothing worth writing home about just yet.

I have to imagine that brewing with meat is not particularly easy. It seems like the sort of process that could easily become a disaster, and in that respect I am somewhat impressed with this stout - because it actually comes together fairly well. Caramel and molasses sweetness come through initially, followed up by mild hints of coffee, plum and milk chocolate. The flavour becomes rather smoky toward the tail end, with an earthy, almost charry roasted malt bitterness providing a counterpoint to the light notes of pork and salt. Mildly bittersweet finish, with a woodsmoke flavour left behind on the palate. My main gripe with this beer is the mouthfeel. It feels a bit thin, watery, and not very satisfying on the palate, with moderate carbonation levels that hopelessly attempt to liven up the body a bit. The limp feel is not enough to make this a 'bad' beer, but it certainly doesn't help matters much.

Final Grade: 3.55, a B grade. Hogsback's Aporkalypse Now is a serviceable stout, but there are definitely a few areas that could use some improvement. The most pressing issue is probably the thin mouthfeel, which is just not appropriate for an oatmeal stout. The bacon flavour and smokiness also seems a little subdued, though for all practical purposes that is not necessarily a bad thing - it makes the beer a bit more approachable than it would otherwise be. I don't mind this beer; it's an interesting idea and wouldn't turn it down in the future, but at $9 per bottle I doubt I'll be returning to it any time soon.

A decent smoky stout. As others have mentioned, you don't really taste the bacon. However it is one of the actual ingredients.
Enjoyed it, but, probably won't purchase again.

As fas as Oatmeal Stouts go this is good. But why use the word Bacon, when theres no hint of it either in the smell or taste. Yup you read that right ZERO BACON flavor. Good stout but dont expect bacon or anything fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pint at The Corner in Orleans. From notes.

A - Black pour with two fingers of beige head that left good lace rings and a film of retention.

S - Sweet malt, cola, chocolate.

T - Campfirey, roast, chocolate.

M - Good carbonation, medium body, slick feel with a nice campfire/slightly smoked finish.

O/D - Decent stuff. The name is a bit much for the smoke profile which isn't really there in too much of a noticeable way. Not something to ooh and ahh about, but it was all right.