There Will Be Porter
Last Best Eatery & Brewpub

Poured from tap at the source. Pours black without any noticeable head. Quite nice - semi sweet chocolate, toffee pudding, roasted malts, a bit of coffee. Pretty dry. Enjoyable overall.

 

 

Smoky with a dry, powdery mouthfeel. Some chocolate and cocoa.

All in all a solid beer, but still leaves something to be desired in order to set it apart.

 

 

 

 

A fairly standard porter with a big roast profile and some light smoky notes. Watery mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Decent enough, but nothing to separate it from the pack.

 

 

 

 

 

20oz pint at the National on 10th (should have given this joint props for that already, but better late than never, I put forth). A porter on the hottest day of the year, and amongst more 'western' hoo-ha than I'd prefer? Hell to the yes.

This beer appears a clear (I gather) dark red cola highlighted brown hue, with one slender finger of bubbly, tightly foamy, and veritably creamy beige head, which leaves some decent continental drift painted lace around the glass as it gradually sinks away.

It smells of granular, bittersweet cocoa powder, bready caramel malt, a slight char, wet ash, black licorice that walked through the mash tun in heavy rubber boots, and earthy, leafy hops. The taste is semi-sweet chocolate wafers, gritty pale and caramel malt, a tame lactic sourness, lessened toasty notes, and weak earthy, musty hops.

The bubbles are pretty low-lying, and hardly noticeable at long junctures, the body an adequate medium weight, and generally smooth, all that chocolate character demanding nothing less. It finishes off-dry, the cocoa, char, and overall earthiness informing as such.

An agreeable enough English Porter, even if the cocoa component is a little overstated. Anyway, the usual metrics are all well hit upon here, making this something worthy of seeking out come cooler weather, which, even just thinking about right now, seems like heresy. Oh, and Paulina from Calfrac Well Services (whose party I'm currently crashing), says that this is the best beer that she's ever had, with the caveat that she doesn't drink beer.