Nanaimo Bar Porter
Vancouver Island Brewing

A: Pours almost-black cherry with a thick, bubbly, and slow to shrink head with some sticky lacing. 3.75
S: Big on chocolate and peanut butter, graham cracker, walnut, and roasted malt, 3.25
T: Big cocoa, dark chocolate along with its bitterness, and roasted malt, 3.75
M: frothy and creamy, but thins out and finishes on the lighter side, 4.00
O: An on-point style porter but there are some elements of the Nanaimo bar missing. I like it, 3.75

A- Pours a chocolaty dark brown color and produces a thick, creamy off white head that retains fairly well, eventually settling into a dense layer over top the brew, and with a patchwork of foam bubbles as well. Lacing is quite sticky and clingy, providing a sheet of protein the whole way around the inside of my glass...quite nice looking overall!

S- Hints of graham crumb, vanilla, chocolate, coconut Earthiness, some rounded black and chocolate malt bitterness, a very muted hop leaf oiliness, and really not much else....it has the basic idea of a Nanaimo bar going for it in terms of smell but its muted for sure.

T- This has all of the classic porter/stout qualities, with astringent burnt malt bitterness/char, unsweetened cocoa, black coffee and heavy soil. There are muted, but noticeable flavors of vanilla, mocha coffee, oat flakes, graham crumble, yeasty custard, and perhaps some coconut....unsweetened and shredded. Overall this has all the qualities of a dessert porter, but it is all in stride....nothing too overpowering here.

M/O- Super creamy and full bodied would best describe the body of this one, and the carbonation is also creamy smooth! The alcohol is well hidden, especially for 6.2% and the drinkability factor is quite nice....a lovely sipping porter! I think this is a good semi-sweet variety and would enjoy again!

Vancouver Is. Brewing 'Nanaimo Bar Porter' @ 6.2% , served from a 473 ml can
A-after a improperly opening can , cola brown to almost black in the glass with a small tan head leaving a spotty lace along the pint
S-hints of chocolate
T-sweet vanilla custard start , bitter chocolate swallow
MF-ok carbonation , weak medium body , thin
Ov-weak porter , liked it as an Imperial porter
prost LampertLand

Appearance - Pours a dark cola brown with a finger of foamy tan head.

Smell - Roasted malts, semisweet chocolate, vanilla, coconut, hint of graham wafer, earthy/leafy hops, touch of coffee bean, earthy yeast.

Taste - Chocolatey roasted malts, vanilla custard, coconut and coffee bean. Followed up by the bitterness of cocoa and hops. Not getting a lot of graham wafer flavour.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Dry finish with a lingering cocoa bitterness on the palate.

Overall - I love me a good Nanaimo bar, a classic Canadian tri-layer confection. I can detect two of the three layers, which leaves me yearning for more honey graham cracker.

Opaque dark dark brown. There was no head and thus no lacing. It is too dark to see if there are any bubbles rising.

Very very light malt scent. I'm smelling more of the environment. Swirling the glass kicked up some very dark malt scents; not burnt, but to the point of some mineral ash. Very little to smell here.

Very lightly sweet flavor. The malt flavor shows up as a light roast, almost like graham crackers. There is some chocolate with a bit of vanilla. Some light nut flavor comes in at the end. A mild-medium bitter reminds that this is really a beer. The aftertaste slowly fades down to a nice bitter.

Very mild carbonation, but it does grow to a creamy textured foam.

Please change the name. I have avoided this for at least a year because I expected a sugar bomb, just like it's namesake bar. I would have continued avoiding it except that it came in a mix pack and I figured I would try one before flogging the rest on to other people. Other than changing the name, it could be better with a little less residual sugar and if there was some way to get some of the flavor into up into the air so we could smell it.

473ml can poured into tulip.

Pours a very dark brown with half a finger of tan head that leaves some splotchy lace as it recedes.

Smells of chocolate, roasted caramel malt, soft coffee grounds,shredded coconut, faint vanilla extract and bit of ashy smoke.

Tastes of graham cracker, toasted nuts, creamed coffee, semi-sweet chocolate, dried coconut, some creamy vanilla and faint weedy hops.

Feels deceptively light. Medium bodied with velvety carbonation. Finishes dry.

Verdict: Recommended. Not getting as many Nanaimo bar vibes as I wanted, but still pretty good.

 

Poured from a 473ml can. 30 IBU's- Grains-Superior Pilsner, Crystal, Oats, Black, Midnight Wheat
Nice name but really needs way more flavor some nice chocolate and toffee notes but a very thin mouthfeel.
Needs tweak in my opinion.
Was caned on 16/Oct./2019

It's a nice porter if you forget about the Nanaimo Bar part.