Quiet Deeds Vanilla Porter
Red Island Brewery

Format: I've had two beers from Red Island Brewing - the Pale Ale was great, but the IPA was pretty awful. Hopefully this one will sell it one way or the other. A standard 330mL brown bottle with a reasonable semi-macro label.

Appearance: pours out a very dark brown in colour with slight brown highlights around the edges. A finger of thick cream head drops to a half-finger with decent lacing. Looks good.

Aroma: decent amount of milk chocolate with cocoa and light roasted coffee. There is a touch of vanilla, but only a touch.

Taste: definitely more vanilla up front than on the nose, with those milk chocolate and roast coffee flavours backing up. Really quite nice.

Aftertaste: more vanilla but particularly roasted malts on the finish. Slightly dry but still with some sweetness. A nice contrast.

Mouth feel: medium in body with a decent moderate carbonation that comes through very smooth and silky. Nice.

Overall: a wonderful vanilla porter from Red Island Brewery. I first had this on its own and it offered milk chocolate, roast coffee and vanilla, however I then had some more with tortilla chips and salsa and damn, did it improve the flavours even more! The vanilla came forward even stronger as vanilla beans and heavy chocolate come through. Whether with or without food, this is a great beer and Red Island Brewing have solidified themselves in my repertoir of new new breweries to keep an eye on.

Drank from my Ciney sniffer

A - Pours a deep ebony colour with a nice tanned head that reduces and laces.

S - Vanilla backed up with roasted malts.

T - Nice vanilla flavours up front, followed with a little tinney flavour I also get some lychee flavour towards the end which is predominantly vanilla, with small amounts of medicinal flavour.

M - Very smooth medium body with low to medium carbonation.

O - I like it when a beers says "vanilla" or whatever and actually delivers on that. This beer certainly does that. Other than the fact that it is a little thin, there's not too much wrong with it.

 

Pours black with a large tan head.
Nose shows vanilla, soft roasted malt, oatmeal and light coffee. Very tempting.
Flavours include more dry soft roast with the vanilla leading to a balanced sweetness. Big chocolate notes. Moreish.
Nice moderate carbonation and body.

Pours a black colour, just a tinge of very dark brown around the edge. Beige head, foamy, doesn't quite stick around. Looks pretty nice.

Smells sweet. Chocolatey with vanilla notes and a touch of coconut. Pleasant.

Taste is sweet, again with chocolate and vanilla throughout the palate. Caramel notes midway as well. Desserty but a sweet, well-balanced porter. Bit subtle, could really pack more of those flavours in and it would be hugely enjoyable and still palatable.

Nice desserty porter. Good characters.

This was brewed for GABS but I got this one in a 500ml bottle and the bottle is 6.2% compared to the draft version which pours a dark kola hue with an off white two finger tight head and touches of subtle lacing,the smell is vanilla,chocolate,coffee and biscuits pretty much just like a s'more,the mouthfeel is just over light bodied with a touch of carbonation and the tastes are just like the smell chocolate,coffee,vanilla,marshmallows and finished with a touch of smoke and overall well worth a visit and would drink again quite the suprise packet from these guys cheers.

Tried on-tap at GABS in Melbourne.

Pours a hazy, dark brown colour with a decent weight to the body and a slight futz of carbonation through the glass. Head is mocha in colour, and forms a fine persistant ring that leaves a solid residue of lace. Looks pretty decent.

Smooth, slightly spicy or mysterious chocolate notes comes through on the nose, along with a strong fragrant vanilla character. Some banana tones are a bit unusual, if not unpleasant, and there's a surprising resiny note as well. It's certainly interested at the very least.

Figgy, aromatic sweetness comes through on the palate, along with some vanilla and chocolate notes as it settles in on the mid-palate. Unfortunately it drops out a lot towards the back, leaving it a little weak and lacking depth. Some more richness I feel would really help it, although the feel is pretty smooth anyway.

It's pretty decent all up, if it does give up on some of its more interesting aspects towards the end. If it's a bit dull, it's also pretty drinkable.