Snow Flyer H. C. Porter
Rusty Rail Brewing Company

Got in a BIF from OzzyLizard. 16 ounce can into willi becher glass, no can dating, but probably from 2022 like the others in the BIF. Pours opaque pitch black color with a 2 finger dense and rocky tan head with amazing retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Dense soapy lacing and light streaming carbonation on the glass. Aromas of big milk chocolate, cocoa, hazelnut, hershey syrup, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, dark bread, and light molasses/coffee. Taste follows with big milk chocolate, cocoa, hazelnut, hershey syrup, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, dark/brown bread; light molasses, coffee, and herbal/grassy hops. Light pine, herbal, roasted bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and body; nice creamy/bready malts, lightly silky, sticky hop, and chalky roast mouthfeel. Light lingering bitter dryness with no cloying/acrid/astringent flavors. A very spot on and clean American porter, with balanced dessert characteristics from cocoa and hazelnut flavorings. Not overly sweet and very drinkable.

Sampling a 16 oz can at cellar temp and poured into my snifter. Picked up the beer as part of my Christmas beer exchange with my brothers in PA.
The beer pours a dark black coffee color with no light passing through my glass. A small dense beige head of about 1 cm foams up and fades to a thin edge layer soon after the beer is poured into the glass. Creates very minimal lattice when I swirl or sip from the glass.
Aroma is what I expect based on the style and description. I get some cocoa powder and rich hazelnut notes , with a little roasted malt too. Not really any hop character at all nor any booziness.
First sip reveals a medium body and smooth texture. Fine yet tingly carbonation rounds out the physical traits.
Flavor is very light chocolate and then some hazelnut cream or butter flavor and again mild roast malt. No hops here either. Overall the flavor is kind of mild and while it matches the style and expectations, I do wish it was a little more robust. Good beer, but had higher hopes as I really like hazelnut.

 

 

 

 

Poured a beautiful nearly black color. 2 inches of head, some lacing.

Smell was lacking. Char, burnt toast, cocoa. Not much else.

Taste certainly has the burnt bitterness and chocolate, but the hazelnut didn't come through like I'd hoped. It tasted artificial and left an odd aftertaste.

I find light bodied dark beers off putting, and the mouthfeel on this one was thin.

Not a bad beer, but not that good, either. Glad people enjoyed it, but I'll be sticking with Santa's Little Helper or Heretic's Chocolate Hazelnut Porter if I'm craving a hazelnuty brew.

 

Well its pretty good so I guess thats why they still brew it. Pours a very deep dark black color but just a 1/4 inch of foam that settles to nothing. Smells is mild cocoa chocolates and hazelnuts and taste is about the same pretty good nice cocoa chocolate presence maybe some smoke not getting much nutty flavor but its good! Body is decent for the ABV slick smooth easy to drink.

Overall I don't know why there is no reviews for this beer for the couple bucks I spent it was quite good. I would have it again!

 

 

 

 

 

Smokey, dry, bitey... Leah's words! Glad to try this, and it's our 400th beer! Bacon bourbon and beer. This beer, however seems to suffer a "what is it" issue.

Edit on 6/2/23 Maple comes out that we didn't note before. Medicinal notes as well. Slightly Sweet, almost burnt brown sugar. Can get the hazelnut smell and taste. The smell reminds Leah of Germany.

 

This beer was poured from a 12oz. bottle that I purchased from a local craft beer store. It was a black coffee color with a tan head that was about 1 finger-width side.

The aroma was like halzenut coffee.

There is cocoa present in the initial taste. In the middle, the beer had deep notes of roasted malt and more cocoa. The hazelnut came through at the very end.

The mouthfeel was smooth and matched the style perfectly.

Overall, this was a good example of a porter. The flavors were balanced very nicely, and the beer was quite smooth.