7-Grain Farmhouse Porter
Partizan Brewery

Purchased from the brewery recently, coming in a 330ml slim brown bottle, bottle-conditioned; bottled on 13/08/2013, BB 13/08/2014, served cool in a short-stemmed broad-rimmed goblet. Notes: according to the brewers, this beer is based on their various “X Grain Porter” with the only difference being the yeasts (Saison yeasts used in this one, apparently) used to make the beer happen.

A: pours a deep dark brown colour with chunks of yeast sediments floating around, coming with a foamy and thick khaki head and pretty decent, healthy level of carbonation.
S: like a stout, a rounded roastiness comes enough to render a lovely burned aroma, backed by chocolates, faint metallic notes, smokiness, filter coffee, Bramling Cross-like hoppiness, and very light dark fruits. Given a good swirl, the savoury edge of yeastiness comes forth, while the expected tartness or acidity due to the saison yeasts is rather weak
T: effervescent on the palate, the flavour is quite… bold, acidic-roasty and yeasty, reminiscent of many mini-breweries’ bottle-conditioning attempt at their dark ales or stouts. More assertive than on the nose, the light tinge of funk with its unique acidic notes does lend a bit more acidity overall to balance the roastiness and chocolaty flavours of malts, leaving a decent level of hop bitterness to linger towards the end of each sip, which finishes pleasantly savoury and dry, much to my pleasure.
M&O: a bit loose on the texture due to large bubbles generated by the bottle-conditioning, medium-bodied and all in all slightly unbalanced regardless of any beer style it purports to be, this is yet another experimental product that Partizan has improvised which I don’t really regard as particularly outstanding or distinctive. That said, it’s pretty drinkable and I have no problems having it again (if only on the house!).