Oost-Indië Porter
Jopen Bier BV Haarlem

 

 

 

Dark brown colour with a good head of foam. Smell of hops, dark malt, coffee, chocolate and peat. These flavours return in the taste, which contains a nice blend of various malt flavours. Would have liked to rate this beer higher, but to hops tend to dominate a bit too much, which subdues the malty goodness. Tastes too much like an English IPA instead of a porter. Mouth feel is smooth and medium-bodied, but sometimes a tad watery.

 

 

 

 

Bottke from an Aldi in Rotterdam:

Low C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE

Got this one from the AH in Utrecht.

From a bottle into a snifter
Best Before 30 November 2017
IBU: 90

APPEARANCE: Clear, transparent light brown pour yields a massive 3+ finger, medium looking, foamier, light brown head with good retention. Brown body with no real carbonation evident. Fades to a foamy, chunky cap and leaves some foam on the glass. Foamy wisp remains leaving lots of chunky lacing down the glass. For the style, this is still too light in color and the head is rather foamy.

SMELL: This smells like old, dead yest right off the pour. Like I'd just opened a fermenter and stuck my head in for a whiff. Some earthy hops in there for sure, and notes of chocolate malt as well, but the dead yeast still dominates somewhat at the beginning. As it sits, that subsides a bit and more earthy hops and dark malt aroma come out.

TASTE: Better here. The beginning is mostly dark malts, cacao and grassy flavors. Plenty of bitterness at the swallow with a bolder and lingering finish of cacao, burnt malts, hop bitterness, grassy flavors and some citrus hops as well. Very bitter for the style and especially at this ABV.

PALATE: Medium body and medium levels of carbonation. Creamy smooth on the palate, goes down smooth and finishes slightly dry. Lots of bitterness lingers on the palate.

OVERALL: They call this a modern version of an old style, but really it's just a more bitter version of an old style, and I'm not sure more bitterness necessarily means more modern. Leaving the nastiness that began with the first whiff of the nose, this is actually an enjoyable, bitter dark beer. I'm not sure there's much in terms of porter here, but it's dark in color and there's enough character here as well. Enjoyable. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black pour, with a healthy level of fine, tan-coloured head with good retention. Smells of resinous and citrusy hops, along with roasted malts, cocoa, a bit of smoke. Tastes like a porter, alright, roasted malts, dark chocolate, toasted rye bread, but also has a nice hop bitterness to it.