Smoked Porter
Birra Sabaja
- From:
- Birra Sabaja
- Kosovo
- Style:
- Smoked Beer
- ABV:
- 5.4%
- Score:
- +9 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 3.11 | pDev: 0%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Feb 18, 2016
- Added:
- Feb 08, 2016
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Texas
3.11/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
3.11/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25
70 IBUs (exceeding even Sabaja's IPA). 5.40%.
Served on-draught @ the brewpub. Cost was 1.5euro per 40dl (which, oddly, they call a pint). Reviewed from notes taken February 2016.
HEAD: Disappeared prior to the waiter bringing it to my table. The floating ring left behind suggests it was pale khaki in colour. Coating lacing was left on the sides of the glass as the head faded.
BODY: Opaque brown-black. A more robust ink-black would be ideal.
No yeast is visible. Looks fine for a smoked Porter.
Sm: Faint. Coffee roast, very reticent smoke, maybe some chocolate malt.
A light aroma suggestive of a shallow inexpressive brew. I'm a bit taken aback by the relative absence of smoke.
T: There's obvious overt smokiness here, but it is tame and reticent, lacking the harshness, meaty character, and ashiness that often accompanies smoke in beer. Chocolate malt injects some sweetness. I hoped for a roastier (more roasty?) brew.
This isn't imbalanced, but it's unbalanced. While it's a cohesive build, each constituent note doesn't come neatly into contact with the others to form a true whole in a gestalt sense; this is merely the uneven sum of its parts and nothing more.
I do like it, but I'd like to see them crank the intensity of the smoke, add loads of roasted barley, and compensate for the concomitant harshness with milky creamy chocolate (malt) notes. Additions of coffee, applewood, or even something from the fennel/aniseed family might help bolster its intricacy and nuance.
Mf: Too smooth and too wet. I want an ashen, coarse, dry texture when I drink a smoked/rauch beer. Adequately carbonated. Medium-bodied, with a clean presence on the the palate.
O: A highly drinkable smoked Porter, but in a way it's too drinkable... I'd prefer a complex-as-hell sipper beast of a smoked beer a la Alaskan's canonical expression of the style. Still, it's impressive that a Kosovar attempt at the style turned out so good; this is a style that's tough to nail and easy to foul up. As with Sabaja's IPA, this is easily one of the best beers in Kosovo in spite of its shortcomings.
Imperfect, but well worth a try. Fairly priced by western standards, for what it's worth.
C+ (3.11) / ABOVE AVERAGE
Feb 18, 2016Served on-draught @ the brewpub. Cost was 1.5euro per 40dl (which, oddly, they call a pint). Reviewed from notes taken February 2016.
HEAD: Disappeared prior to the waiter bringing it to my table. The floating ring left behind suggests it was pale khaki in colour. Coating lacing was left on the sides of the glass as the head faded.
BODY: Opaque brown-black. A more robust ink-black would be ideal.
No yeast is visible. Looks fine for a smoked Porter.
Sm: Faint. Coffee roast, very reticent smoke, maybe some chocolate malt.
A light aroma suggestive of a shallow inexpressive brew. I'm a bit taken aback by the relative absence of smoke.
T: There's obvious overt smokiness here, but it is tame and reticent, lacking the harshness, meaty character, and ashiness that often accompanies smoke in beer. Chocolate malt injects some sweetness. I hoped for a roastier (more roasty?) brew.
This isn't imbalanced, but it's unbalanced. While it's a cohesive build, each constituent note doesn't come neatly into contact with the others to form a true whole in a gestalt sense; this is merely the uneven sum of its parts and nothing more.
I do like it, but I'd like to see them crank the intensity of the smoke, add loads of roasted barley, and compensate for the concomitant harshness with milky creamy chocolate (malt) notes. Additions of coffee, applewood, or even something from the fennel/aniseed family might help bolster its intricacy and nuance.
Mf: Too smooth and too wet. I want an ashen, coarse, dry texture when I drink a smoked/rauch beer. Adequately carbonated. Medium-bodied, with a clean presence on the the palate.
O: A highly drinkable smoked Porter, but in a way it's too drinkable... I'd prefer a complex-as-hell sipper beast of a smoked beer a la Alaskan's canonical expression of the style. Still, it's impressive that a Kosovar attempt at the style turned out so good; this is a style that's tough to nail and easy to foul up. As with Sabaja's IPA, this is easily one of the best beers in Kosovo in spite of its shortcomings.
Imperfect, but well worth a try. Fairly priced by western standards, for what it's worth.
C+ (3.11) / ABOVE AVERAGE
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