Fathom Five
Tobermory Brewing Company & Grill

This one is dark brown and clear with cola highlights. A light khaki head forms a tight foam that is short lived, settling to a thick, creamy blanket. Lacing forms light patches on a Cisco fisheye pint glass.

The aroma opens with mild roasted malt, followed by chocolate and light caraway. A hint of smoke becomes evident within a few minutes.

The flavor has a lightly roasted character. Bitterness and sweetness are balanced and mild. It has a modest Baker's chocolate finish.

The body is medium with the texture of flannel. Alcohol is mild, yet above expectations. Soft carbonation forms a fizzy sensation.

Fathom Five is an easy drinking Porter that pairs well with Saprososa salami and stilton cheese. In fact, it is significantly better with the salami.

Appearance: Poured with two fingers of head that retained decently, and produced a single ring of lace. The body is an near opaque black with maybe the lightest of brown notes when held up to the light.

Smell: I'm catching notes of walnuts, but that's really it, even warming doesn't really help it out that much. It's a case of nothing bad, just predominantly absent.

Taste: Starts with some mild well charred malt and then turns to a dry yeast/dirt/leather funk before ending with some weak walnut notes to an earth note that furthers that funk.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is there and in good supply, but it's serving to accent that nasty middle note, and because it's dry it makes it even less desirable to drink. The transitioning doesn't work either, as it's malt to caked on shoe dirt and then some nut notes tossed in at the end. The aftertaste has an odd cling to it, but at least that nut end asserts itself a bit more there.

Drinkability: It's too dry to be refreshing, it doesn't have the bitterness or interesting note to be a more stout like porter and it's far too heavy to come across as a lighter porter, something that a lower 4.5 ABV leaves me a bit perplexed about. To be honest, it's starting to upset my stomach, and got the drain at the half way point.

Final Thoughts: This beer has a fairly normal beginning, and a slightly interesting end with that walnut note. The problem is that god awful middle section, and given how odd that funk is, I think it's gone bad, and low and behold, the bottom of this beer says packaged Feb 2022 which is a problem, because I bought this beer in October of 2023 from the brewery, and they would not let me pull direct from the cooler. When a brewer doesn't pull old stock, I presume the brewer thinks this beer is just as viable now as it was when you packaged it. In this case, at the end of 2022 when it wasn't pulled. Take what you will from this.