Fat Porter
Steelbound Brewery and Distillery

A short-lived, fizzy, light-khaki head reaches the height of one-eight of an inch before quickly fading to a ring. The beer is chocolatey brown (SRM 34-37) with murky highlights. No lace forms on a Harp nonic glass.

The aroma opens with milk chocolate, followed by lightly roasted cocoa. The background is filled with faint sweet coffee.

The flavor is nice and mild, opening with milk chocolate and followed by figs. Caramel builds and holds a middle ground, while light, sweet malt brings up the rear. Faint bitterness is present. The finish is brief and mild.

Medium body with scratchy nylon texture. Alcohol is well below expectations and is barely noticeable. Light carbonation lingers and residual sugar clings to the lips.

This is a good Charlie Brown beer to be enjoyed with casual conversation. I enjoyed mine on a cold, mid-Autumn afternoon with Stilton cheese. The Stilton greatly improved the beer, however, this review was made without the cheese.

Poured into a becher pint glass, the appearance was a beautiful ruddy dark semi-muddy brown color in the pour. In the glass itself yielded more of a darker brown close to black color. The head was about a finger's worth of eggshell white foaminess. This head dissipated finely to spiderweb in a nice chill fashion.
The aroma yielded to an extremely fine blend of sweet coffee roasty beany character rolling on into some sweet ashy/char and dark chocolate tones. Light cocoa powder strolls in for a fantastic balance.
The flavor leaned into a superb blend of sweet roasted coffee and ash/char. Mild earthy semi-spicy affiliations stroll in underneath. Took a little bit, but some caramel/toffee maltiness came out. Slight sticky dark chocolate and cocoa powder bitterness in the aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium with a fine sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt very nice. Smooth just as I wanted it to be rolling along my tongue as expected (a certain caramel maltiness here). Finishes with some roast and cocoa powder dryness.
Overall, very good American porter and one to absolutely have again during this time of year.

Having a 5 oz. sample pour of this in a flight of beers I am enjoying at a very nice craft beer bar called Beer Snobs in downtown Jamestown, NY. This beer draws a very dark brown, almost black color with a small, off-white/light brown head that settles eventually to a thin ring lining the inside of the glass along with some small, faint swirls of film layer surface foam. Aromas of roasted malts with hints of chocolate and coffee and some earthy, slightly piney hops. The taste is pretty much the same, with dark roasted malts with just a slight hint of caramel sweetness, coffee and chocolate notes and some earthy hops that provide some bitterness. Has a mainly smooth and frothy, slightly crisp, medium to full bodied mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. Has a dry finish with a bit of a roasty aftertaste. A good example of this style indeed.

Eric