Port Over Easy
Põhjala Brewery & Tap Room

 

 

 

Bottle from Aurora Brew Works in East Aurora, NY.

This one pours a dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like caramel, dark fruit, oak spice, leather, port, cedar, and chocolate fudge.

This is extremely dark fruity, but it works pretty well for me. The port barrel gives a nice leathery and spicy note here, along with lots of dark fruit. There's some caramel and toffee like flavor, with a good amount of chocolate, too.

This is medium bodied, and not super thick, but not thin, with a touch of booziness but nothing intense. The booze is more present on the nose than the palate.

This was a fun and dark horse sort of find. Always nice to see two great breweries come together.

 

 

11 March 2020 - Beer #46


Price: $9.99 at Clinton Gourmet Corp. in Manhattan

Appearance: 3 - looks like soy sauce or dark maple syrup. No head at all. A few tiny bubbles making their way to the top. You guessed it; I'm nervous.

Nose: 4 - smells a bit like maple syrup or soy sauce just... fruitier?

Taste: 4 - tastes a bit like soy sauce. Tons of barrel, maybe more rum or fruit brandy than port. Yeah, maybe a bit winey. This is really very interesting. Not amazing but certainly tasty and drinkable.

Mouth: 3 - feels a bit like soy sauce. Ok not so much, but I was on a roll. Very little carbonation, not sure if that's on purpose. Somewhat thick and oily but a little dead.

Overall: 4 - an interesting offering. Actually I think it's my first Baltic Porter from the Baltic States, so that's... something?

Cheers!

 

 

 

I recently had this Port Over Easy Põhjala Cellar Series Baltic Porter a Barrel Aged (Port Wine Barrels) Imperial Porter brewed with caramelized Estonian Birch Syrup, ABV 10.50%. It is a collaboration between Jester King, Texas and Põhjala. I think someone missed that this is part of the cellar series.


Look: black with a finger thick creamy mocca colored head

Aroma: chocolate, honey, port wine

Taste: flavor is roasted malts, chocolate, syrup, honey, port wine, slightly carbonated.

Body/Overall: medium to full body

Collaboration with Jester King Brewery.

 

 

Got this one from the Duvel guy in Utrecht

From a bottle into a snifter
Brewed with caramelized Estonian birch syrup
Aged in Port wine barrels
Collaboration with Jester King
Best Before 30 January 2022
Forest Series
Cellar Series

APPEARANCE: Clear dark brown pour yields a three finger, medium looking, fizzy and noisy light tan head with excellent retention. Clear bistre brown body with lots of carbonation evident. Foamy head eventually recedes to a foamy cap with lots of staying power. A foamy half wisp remains leaving touches of lacing down the glass as it empties. Foamier head and a bit too much carbonation to start off.

SMELL: Some wood notes, sweet caramel aromas, some tart wine aromas and some decent alcohol on the nose.

TASTE: Some definite birch wood spices, as well as wine character and some alcohol at the swallow. A bold finish of alcohol, red wine, birch wood, spicy flavors, notes of vanilla and milk chocolate, vanilla, and some light noes of syrup linger on the palate. Flavorful enough.

PALATE: Medium body and slightly higher levels of carbonation. Somewhat foamy on the palate, just a touch, goes down fine and finishes somewhat mouth-coating on the palate. A touch of heat lingers.

OVERALL: Too bad this one wasn’t part of even more series. The Forest series is probably the most legit of the two, but more series may have helped the final product. Moving on, unfortunately caramelized Estonian birch syrup is not the highest quality birch syrup out there, as it doesn’t quite measure up to the Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts. Caramelized syrup is definitely better than non-caramelized versions, and birch is superior to various other tree species, but in the Baltic States, geographical location is the deciding factor. This one has a lot of things going for it, but a greater number of series and resourcing further south would have made all the difference here. This one is okay but not as good as it could have been. Still, Pohjala has been rocking it lately, so this is much appreciated. Next time pay more attention to the number of series you’re ticking and where exactly you source your caramelized birch syrup. Cheers!

Pours jet black with a half inch of golden brown head.

Smell is sweet with notes of licorice, dark chocolate, molasses, maple syrup and brown sugar.

Taste is rich and sweet with a clear roasted base. Notes of licorice, dark chocolate, maple syrup, oak, bourbon and some floral hints. Not a lot of port.
Mouthfeel is medium to full and smooth. Well carbonated.

Overall, a very nice porter, full of flavor. Was hoping for more from the port barrels though.