Portside
Big Bay Brewing Co.

 

 

Pours dark brown with a thin head that slowly becomes a wide patch. Some lacing sticks.

The smell is of rich chocolate cake with a hint of some dried fruit.

The taste is of cocoa with a hint of licorice. The roast is mild. A sour-fruit-like character gives balance to the moderate sweetness in the finish.

The body is on the lighter-to-medium body side of the style with medium carbonation.

A nice English-style brown that has some light porter characteristics. Very smooth and easy to drink.

12 oz bottle, no date. Poured into trusty nonic glass. Dark brown with hints of ruby. Finger of khaki head which quickly dissipates into a thin but bubbly crown and leaves small splotches of intermittent lacing.

The first thing that hits me in the nose is a roasty coffee-like aroma that is more typical of the ever-so-rare Southern English Browns. Toffee and sweet chocolate give a rich, malty, and slightly sweet aroma overall.

Mocha-like flavor of coffee and cocoa sweetness. Indistinguishable and fairly complex dark fruitiness. Sweet and malty but not cloying in the least and just a touch of a dry roasty finish.

Light-medium body and low-moderate carbonation which feels a little higher due to the low gravity. Overall fairly smooth and creamy, especially for the ABV.

This is an excellent example of a substyle that is basically non-existent, especially in the U.S. I don't see it becoming a particularly popular beer, but I for one am really enjoying it.

Tried the Portside porter at our FFB draft last Friday night. Its decent....nothing to rave about. Beer poured dark with ecru head that did not lace. The scent carried some slight roast but nothing fancy. The taste was a light bodied porter that was easily sessionable. Overall this was ok. Yes it was a porter....not it was not the best one ive had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 oz bottle poured into a Big Bay stange.
4.8% ABV, 26 IBUs, no date.

A - Ruby highlights shine through the clear mahogany color of Portside with ease. A stout ivory head rests on the beer with easy, speckling the glass with lace as it collapses.

S - Notes of toffee and butterscotch escape around the lightly roasted malts within Portside which faintly suggest cocoa, mocha, and dirt. A trail of sun-dried raisins and prune closes the aroma of this beer.

T - Portside favors the roasted notes of the aroma for it's flavor, though toffee and butterscotch continue to peek out. Dry cocoa presents itself with a dusty, gritty feel while dark chocolate and very subtle hints of smoke finish it out.

M - It should come as no surprise that with low alcohol content, this mild porter has a lighter body. Carbonation seems to feel elevated because of the lack of a bigger malt backing but the dry, lightly roasted bitter finish puts a nice touch on this beer.

O - You've probably met someone who claims, "I don't like dark beer", ignorant to the fact dark beer isn't always as thick as they think it is. Meet Portside, a "dark beer" that's lighter bodied and gentle but flavorful and smooth; a good introductory dark beer that pushes no boundaries but is comfortable being itself.