Old London Style Porter
OEC Brewing (Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores)

 

This one pours a dark and slightly murky brown color, with a small head, and a good bit of lacing.

This one smells like tannic red wine, sour grapes, chocolate, roast, smoke, and oak.

As expected with OEC, they couldn't have just made a normal porter, they had to go back in time and make a sour porter, apparently closer to what it tasted like back then. There's definitely a good maltiness and chocolatey/roast character, but the sourness and funk mostly dominate here, with a smokey funk, some wine, a burnt grape sort of flavor, and a bit of of bitter spicy oak. It gets more sour as it warms up.

This is light bodied, slightly creamy, with a lingering sourness on the back end. It's definitely a slower sipper.

This was very fun to try, but I can't pretend to prefer my porters this way. I'm still glad to have tried, and I want to try all the OEC beers I can get my hands on.

I was really surprised when I took my first sip because I was expecting a traditional malty porter and was met with strong sour notes. Then I actually read the label and saw that this was a blend of a porter and a cask-aged ale. As always, an unusual offering from OEC - and I would recommend giving this a try if you get the chance.