Zed's On The Liffey - Dublin Porter
Zed's Beer / Bado Brewing

 

 

Bado Brewing "Zed's On The Liffey - Dublin Porter"
on tap at the brewery on 17 February 2018

Notes: Based at least in part on a historic recipe from Guinness, this beer displays what porter may have been like hundreds of years ago before roasted malts became darker and more in fashion. It's also lower in alcohol which would surely have been the case. It's a clear deep amber/brown in color beneath a creamy off-white head that holds well and leaves almost solid rings of lacing about the glass. The aroma is toasty, just slightly like coffee, grainy, and very lightly caramelish. The flavor follows with more nuttiness and a hint of leafy hops. It's roasty like coffee, but more like the roastiness that you find in smelling fresh coffee beans that the roastiness that you get from brewing a cup of Joe. Mainly it's toasty and nutty, although there is a touch of fruitiness to it, and not surprisingly, that's the way it finishes, lingering nicely. It's mildly bitter allowing the toast and subtle roastiness to come through and handle a light bit of the burden of balancing it. Surprisingly full of flavor given its strength! In the mouth it's light to light-medium and remarkably smooth with a moderate, fine-bubbled (seemingly natural) carbonation. This is the best beer I've had from Zed's, and as a fan of English-style ales, particularly milds, I can say that it stands up to the best of Blighty. I can't judge it against current beer styles, and I've listed it here as an English porter although it's really something else altogether - it may be what porter once was, but we'll never really know that for sure. Absolutely balanced and stunningly drinkable, it's an absolute winner!