Concord Porter
Concord Brewery

The head on this beer was unpleasantly large. It took a full 10 minutes to pour the whole thing into a glass. It foamed over once despite the slow pour and several stops. Actually, when I cracked the top it sounded like I was opening a fizzy Bud or something. The color is an almost opaque dark brown.

The aroma is lacking I only get some hazelnut and roasted malts. The taste is a little better featuring some very smoky malts and hazelnut and pleasant sweetness. The carbonation does leave a little tingle that detracts some. The beer improves at it warms and flattens.

Overall, this is simply an average porter. My best by date is January so I don’t think that is it. Looking back on the old review it appears the earlier ones are all higher. Maybe something has changed. Check it out if you are a New Englander, otherwise, nothing special.

This went well with my Reuben, but it's really only average to slightly better than average. It was a dark brown with a thin, almost nonexistent, head. It had a smoky, roasted grain aroma. Taste was dark coffee and some sweet chocolate. Not exactly awe-inspiring, but OK. Decent mouthfeel, nice aftertaste.

Pours black with an active cream to tan head that slowly fades to a thin sheet on top. Nice aroma, there is a sweet pipe tobacco and smokiness, with roasted malts and a little chocolate. Taste is stronger in the roasted and smoky malts, a slight sweetness in the middle with a good size acidic tanginess and a good sized dryness in the finish. A light to medium body and fairly active carbonation. I really enjoyed the aromas here, the only thing that was throwing me a little was the active carbonation.

Pours a dark brown with a reddish/burgandy highlights with a thin tan head. Smells of chocolate and coffee. Tastes chocolately, roasty, with a light but noticeable hop burst. I was not expecting this hop burst. Mouthfeel is good and the drinkability is a plus plus. At first I was a bit skeptical because of the lighter color of the beer, but was pleasently suprised after my first sip. I could drink these all day long.

Re-review 4/14/05:

I hate to do this, but I can't let my original review stand anymore. I purchased some Concord Porter recently that was well within the drink by date and it turned out to be slightly sour, phenolic, thin, light on the roasted/chocolate flavors and no hop character that it used to have. I would let it stand if I didn't get the same thing from the others in the line and if it was only a one time try, but I've been trying their beers for the last year to see if they get better and they just aren't. I'm heartbroken.

Original review 10/30/02:
I can't believe I haven't reviewed this beer yet, since I've been drinking it for about 2 years. Pours a very dark ruby color almost bordering on black. Roasted aromas with a slight hop nose. Milky smooth mouthfeel combined with a sharp roasted coffee like flavor. Then it turns to chocolate milk type flavors and then the gentle hop flavor unites all the other flavors. Could be my imagination but I think since Dann started brewing this it has become slightly drier and the sweetness has been subdued. This is a good thing since it allows you to drink more without it becoming cloggy in the throat. One of the top 5 porters in my book and the fact that it is brewed a few blocks from my house makes it even better.

I am going to attempt a new format in my beer reviewing.
[04-10-2005]

Concord Junction Porter
12 oz brown bottle
Best before date: 07-05
Served in an imperial pint glass.

This beer pours a dark brown, essentially black color with a nice tan colored head on top. This beer just looks smooth from the beginning.

Aroma of roasted malts and coffee beans with a really nice fruity backdrop. Almost tastes like a blend of pruins and blueberries.

Great porter all around. Creamy smooth with the right thick coffee malt bite profile. Very true to style and nicely brewed. Sweet and roasted malts, frothy blueberry milkshake smoothness and a snappy hop finish.

Dark Brown Ale with mahogony highlights. Has a dark beige head.Nice roasted malt aroma with tasty hints of roasted coffee and chocolate. Good roasted malt bitterness with just a hint of coffee that sits on the back of your tongue. I really liked the roasted mouthfeel. I've had stouts that were less assertive in the mouth.

Nice head but it leaves no lace. Dark brown in color, but clear enough to allow a light to shine through a half inch of brew.

Aroma features chocolate and touch of black patent malts. There's a slight amount of yeast smell as well. The flavor is predominately malt with the chocolate notes coming through strongest. The yeast also shows up but much more subtly than say a homebrew. The bittering hop is also subtle, providing more balance than flavor.

This beer is highly carbonated, but still maintains a fuller body. The aftertaste features darker malts with a touch of some bittering hop. An excellent American example of the style with some interesting twists.

12ozer purchased as a single from the Spirit Haus, Amherst, MA.

Poured into an pint glass mug, formed a 3/4" beige/light tan head above a dark copper brew, not as dark as most porters I am familiar with. Aroma is full of dark grains. Taste is malty, but somewhat thin-bodied. Mouthfeel is kind of watery, and drinkability is okay for sessionability, but lacking in the interest area. Was disappointed in this brew, was expecting more, but still an acceptable porter.

This beer poured a dark amber brown body with a big choppy off white head.

The nose a mix of chocolate, caramel, coffee, dark fruits, roasted barley and a very slight phenol/garbage smell.

The beer had a huge carbonated bubbled bodied on the tongue. Medium bodied, but surprisingly watery thin. Basically a porter. Tastes of dark roasted espresso beans, mild dark chocolate. Earthy hops blend with the roasted flavor. There’s an even bitterness throughout. It’s a little lighter than the malt but balances the beer well.

Overall a decent porter. A little too much of the burnt flavor for my tastes, but it’s light, simple and very drinkable. A nice porter.

Definitely a beer that benefits greatly if its consumed at room temperature. The flavor is a mix of chocolate, malt, nuttiness. Carbonation is just about right. This is a great after work beer, as it's numerous and complex flavors distract you from days trials and tribulations. And it tastes great too. One of my all time favorites.

Perhaps I let this warm too much, but I love the huge tan head, at least two inches, that piles up with the same uncontrolled quality as a scoop of ice cream dropped incautiously into a root beer float. Or maybe it's a cherry cola float, for that's the color revealed as the light pours through.

I can just detect molasses, though sometimes there's something else that reminds me of Guinness. With its mild smokiness mingling with soft brown sugar and molasses, light body, pinhead fizziness, and its short but sweet finish, this is awfully easy to drink.

Pours a mahogany brown, topped with a two finger dark tan head. Leaves wide bands of lace down the glass.
Chocolate and coffee notes come across strong in the aroma, wood, earth.
Again the taste is strongly coffee based, caramel, nutty.
Light-medium bodied, needs to be fuller.

Pours a dark, dark brown with a fat tan head. Real thick sheet of lace settles out.

Smells nicley roasted in it's coffeeness. Undertones of caramel and toasted nut.

Very rich in it's taste. Nicely coffeed up front with just a whisp of walnut astringency hiding in the back. Finishes dry and a little bitter. Lots of dark malts smoldering in the ebb.

Mouthfeel is a little oily with a nice backbone to it. Carbonation is understated.

Another gem from Concorde.

I am sampling this brew at room temp in a snifter. The aroma is all malt with brown sugar, molasses and caramel dominating. A beige head foams up and fades to an edge layer rather quickly. The color of the brew is very dark brown that reveals deep ruby tints when held to the light.
The first sip gives a thicker than average body with a slightly creamy texture. The carbonation is made up of very fine bubbles but is rather prickly on my tongue. Flavors are similar to aroma, I get rich roasted malt flavor with mild hints of chocolate and some molasses as well.
This beer is incredibly smooth and easy drinking. I could have many of these in a sitting methinks!

Pours the color that I’ve come to expect from a Porter. A nice dense caramel dark brown.

The brew cascading and slucing into my glass built a modest head that deflated after a short time and left it’s “head” signature as bubbly islands and atols drifting aimlessly on the beer’s surface.

In my opinion, the flavor isn’t particularly complex-- there’s a bitter hops start, effervenscent mouthfeel and a minor malt finish with a clean edge.

I wish this beer had a heavier body, with more flavor in between the hops and the malt.

What was that old cliche’ “Where’s the beef”?

OK porter, but I'd reach for others...

Pours deep maroon almost black. Tan head appears and then fades away to nothing leaving a small amount of lace on the glass.
Aroma is grain characteristics, chocolate and some prunes or raisins.
Flavor is super creamy and smooth with chocolate, roasted malt and maybe a hint of chicory. Hint of smoke seems to sneak in also.
Bitterness on the finish cuts the sweet malt flavor enough to make this a really complex and nicely balanced beer.
Mouthfeel is really nice and the sweet and somewhat syrupy start finishes up nice a dry.
Drinkability is very high. Too bad I only have one bottle.
Thanks to Mikesy01 for this excellent beer.

This is my first experience with a Concord brew and I can say that I am impressed. This was a real nice porter that had some great aromas and flavors. Freshness "drink by date" is clearly marked on the side.
The brew poured a very dark brown, hedging on black with a very nice dark tan head that stuck around for a while and had very good lacing.
The smell is of chocolate and coffee with some strong hints of spicy hops. The taste is of coffee with a bit of nuttiness and maybe caramel (?) that goes together very nice.
The finish of the beer was nice with a bit of a roasted alcohol (?) taste.
Over all this beer’s taste has a very good balance and one that I would get in a heartbeat although more likely during the colder seasons!

The beer pours a transparent dark brown, nearly black, topped with a thin haze of head. Good head retention, for what it is, keeping throughout the glass.
The aroma is roasty, with a good bit of coffee, and a touch of toffee. Some light plum and raisin aroma, with very mild piney hopping. The balance seems nice, with the hops a bit more pronounced than your average porter. Clean, with no off aromas.
The flavor starts out rather thin, with only a slight roastiness coming through. The flavor beefs up in the middle, with a rich roasty coffee flavor, mingling with some plum, rainsin, and a touch of fig. Slight caramel towards the end, just before the hops cme in, and the raisin lingers through into the finish. Rather agressive hopping takes up the back, finishing the beer very dry, with a roasted coffee/herbal hop mix in the aftertaste. Light bodied, with rather overwhelming fizzy carbonation. An almost soda-like mouthfeel.
A decent porter, but pretty thin, especially in the front. The carbonation is definitely overwhelming. I enjoy the more pronounced hopping, and it does leave you with a pleasant, balanced aftertaste.

Dark brown pour, with a good bit of ruby hues around the edges. Large tan head mostly diminishes, leaving good sheets of lacing. Aroma is of roasted coffee, caramel, and strongly bitter chocolate. Flavor is chocolate, roasted caramel, and a bit of coffee. Medium body, tingly carbonation. An excellent porter.