Melody Noir
Whiplash Brewing

440 ml can, at Cardinal, Stavanger. ABV is 7.2%. Black colour, moderate tan head. Moderate aroma of roast malts and mild coffee, a hint of dark chocolate. Smooth and pleasant flavour with the same elements, medium dry, hints of dark rye bread, moderate bittering hops.

CAN
Chocolate-ruby with tight cap of sepia foam.
Carob, cherry stones, and raisin bread on the nose.
Dark rye bread, dark stone fruit, slight caramel, some cinnamon + autumn leaf, tannic finish.
Smooth, round, some chew.

4 x 5

This has its flavour notes all in the row - the prune, the sweetness, the hint of spice - and with good depth.
What's missing is the lager snap - I wonder if the bock yeast of choice would leave too much sugar to be crisp.
But it's easy to like, no hint of heat, and with the drinkability the style should have.

Fun, if not quite bang on style.

look: two finger tan coloured head with decent retention, beer is a dark mahogany colour, very gentle carbonation rolling up the beer.

smell: very nice aroma, lot of milk chocolate, cappuccino, caramel, treacle, nicely sweet, biscuity malt, caramel, hint of tobacco, nutty, nougat, hint of a vinous quality, hint of plum, smells good.

taste: good beer for sure, lovely malt character, black bread, brown bread, biscuit, caramel, earthy, oaky, all those sweet flavours there too, milk chocolate and treacle namely, medium bitterness on the finish, smokey oaky malt flavours linger, good stuff.

feel: light to medium bodied, light carbonation, maybe a bit watery, lingering bitterness on the back of the tongue, smooth.

overall: good porter from whiplash, maybe expected something a little better but this is still another high quality beer from them

A lovely new beer from Whiplash, comes in a 440 ml white can with the usual abstract art piece on it. Price was around the 5€ mark, so it’s expected to be decent.

Pilsner malt, Munich malt, Carabohemian chocolate malt with Magnum and WLP833 hops.

Top: 1” of light tan head, lasts around average.

Colour: dark ruby, cola like, not jet black. Seems clear enough, although it’s hard to see if it has a slight haze or not.

Smell: lovely roasted malts, sweet molasses, chocolate, a hint of smoked malts. It gets more complex as it gets closer to room temperature.

Taste: smooth, full bodied and warm. No boozy notes. Taste follows the nose. As it warms it gets creamier and more beautiful. Lovely by the fire and with/as dessert.

Summary: it IS decent. A prime example of a well made Baltic Porter, I’m looking forward to have more, it’s really smooth and flavourful. Top shelf stuff, try it. Absolutely amazing to have this to be my 50th review.