Nightfall Porter
Prohibition Brewing Company

 

Oh my. Proof positive that not everything dark is good for you. It looks good at first, but the positive first impression is wiped out by the chemical nose. In the mouth, this beer is a puzzle. There are some roasted malt and chocolate notes, but overall, it doesn't connect. The finish reminds me of cleanser and leaves a disappointing final impression. This is not something I will look for again in the near future.

Prohibition Brewing 'Nightfall Porter' @ 5.0% served from a 650 ml bottle purchased for $5.45
A-pour is brown from the bottle to very dark brown in the glass with a big frothey tan head leaving a streaky lace along the pint
S-cocoa , coffee , chocolate
T-somewhat smooth , bit crisp , butt really it lacks craft , by the time the bottle is finished pouring into the glass it's really awful tasting
MF-ok carbonation , no body , dissapointing
Ov-not even a ok beer , one & done , be warned
prost LampertLand

650ml bottle. The theme for this particular offering is the bottles of illicit booze that washed up during the night tides during the 1920s, a la the opening scenes of Boardwalk Empire, RIP. Me, I'm gonna cue some 'Nightfall' by Blind Guardian, because, well, Blind Guardian!

This beer pours a clear, rather dark red brick amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, densely foamy, and mildly creamy tan head, which leaves some rudimentary island fortress ruin lace around the glass as it gently recedes.

It smells of grainy, somewhat bready toasted pale malt, a touch of biscuity caramel, a weirdly acerbic yeastiness, and bland earthy, weedy, and dirt-adjacent hops. The taste is bready, grainy, and lightly wheaty pale malt, bittersweet chocolate (but more the former than the latter), a strangely sour character, one that is once again more yeasty than lactic in orientation, 'soft' floor cleaner astringencies, cold, over-extracted coffee, and fading leafy, weedy hops.

The carbonation is fairly active, in a swirling, untethered frothiness, the body medium-light in weight, and not at all smooth, that plastic character really starting to wedge its way in everywhere. It finishes off-dry, I suppose, the toasted and grainy malt putting on a good face, in light of its retarded drinking buddies.

Yeah, something went wrong with this one, either by design, or by negligence, I'm not in a position to aver either way. Whatever - there are typical English Porter elements here, but that mildly sour, plastic essence becomes more and more like the princess and the pea with each subsequent gulp, I'm afraid - methinks the cutesy retro marketing could be curtailed in favour of some quality control improvements.