Porter
Wild Goose Brewery, LLC

 

 

 

A: Appears black at first pour, held to the light it has lots of reddish tones. Thick tan foam head. Ample lacing.

S: Lots of malty scents. Coffee, espresso, chocolate, caramel and nuts. Very sweet smelling Porter.

T: Lots of flavor, especially after warmed a tad. A good mixture of chocolate and nut flavor with just a touch of coffee.

M: It is a medium bodied porter. Left a creamy smooth sweet flavor on the palate.

D: An excellent dessert porter, good flavoring, good balance of flavors.

Pours a great dark brown/black color, very coffee-like, with excellent initial head and decent lacing. It has a great, simple, burnt grain scent, with hints of coffee. Wonderful taste, a great porter flavor, with burnt grains, and hints of chocolate and vanilla. It has a great feel, too, goes down great, with a creamy flow. Wonderful porter!

This poured a dark ruby color with tan head. It smelled like a delicious blend of milk chocolate and roasted coffee. It tasted immediately sweet with chocolate flavors mixed with some coffee bitterness. It was slightly thick with no carbonation and only a mild aftertaste. Overall this was a mostly basic porter, but still sweet and quite good.

12oz bottle poured into a Pint Glass

A – Poured a very dark brown, nearly opaque with a large tan head of foamy lace that was a good three fingers high across the top. A very slow fade left behind more then adequate side glass lace and a really thick film left across the top as well. This really had a very full look to it, almost like that of a good stout, I was quite surprised to see it look this full.

S – Deep aroma of chocolate came off almost instantly and sat me back for a second to be honest. It was a dark roasted chocolate with more of a bitter quality to it rather then sweet. There was some other notes of a grassy sort of fresh herb like smell deep in the back with a more nutty or burnt caramel aroma leaping forward as it started to warm up a bit. Rather full aroma, this was starting to come off quite a bit fuller then I initially thought it was going to.

T – The flavor was simply great. This was a very full flavored porter, more in the line with a Baltic Porter. Deep bitter dark chocolate right at the front of it which melded right into an earthy and nutty malted flavor. The combination of the two was very full and really laid down a solid foundation which was quickly accented by notes of caramel and sugar. The finish was very strong with a good solid fresh grass like hop bite at the end. Long lasting taste stayed around well into your next sip.

M – Medium to full bodied porter, this one was more then adequately carbonated and really started to take on again more of a Baltic Porter like feel as well. Very rich and creamy it was a very nice after dinner drink as the flavors were very full as served that very nicely.

D – Excellent, and despite having such a full body and flavor was actually quite drinkable. There was no ABV to speak of and the flavors were strong but not overbearing. It did not come off too filling so you were easily able to go in for the next sip.

Overall I though this was very good. I tried three different brews from Wild Goose tonight and this one was by far my favorite. It seemed they spent a lot of time putting this together and really making sure it had a good solid feel to it. This was excellent and I would not hesitate to get this one again, and it would probably taste even better on tap.

Poured from 12oz bottle into a Belgian goblet.

Appearance- Beer pours a deep brown which appears black until held to the light where the ruby shines thru clearly and I can see the lamp behind it. A 1.5 finger head rises and quickly dissapates to a tan ring around the glass.

Smell- Smells like a good robust porter should. Mild malt and roasty with rich noble hops in the backbone. Some slight bakers chocolate in with the roastiness and a light graininess. A nutty cashew flavour also comes across.

Taste- Very light roastiness. The smell was quite deciptive on this one. Mild chocolate, nutty smell doesn't come thru in the taste at all. The smell raised my expectations and the taste shot them down unfortunately. Hops seem a little high but not overwhelming. A bit under attenuated.

Mouthfeel- Light bodied with a bit of oil slickness. Decent carbonation does hold the beer together, but not quite enough.

Drinkability- The style is a thick robust beer, but the beer here in question doesn't live up to the greatness that the style revolves around. The porter is drinkable, but I don't see a revisit in it's near future with me.

Pouring this in to a pint glass, the first thing you'll notice is a rich, deep dark brown color - nearly black, but not quite. A pour, regardless of how rough you are with it, results in very little tan head, which quickly disappears, leaving a slight bit of carbonation on the top.

The smell is quite pleasant, definitely scents of roasted malt, coffee, maybe a slight bit of baking chocolate, and a bit grassy.

Starts very much with the taste of malt, with a slightly watery coffee taste following. Not as bitter as I had expected.

The mouthfeel is a bit watery, a bit chalky. Close to a stout. Not impressive.

The overall drinkability is pretty decent. If you like American Porters, this is a good example. Nowhere near the best there is, but a good, solid specimen that would invite the drinker in to delving further into porters.

Dark ale with hints of orangish brown hues when pint glass is held up to the light. Aroma of wild goose ales, I think its the yeast strain, they all kinda smell the same, a bit of husky roast aroma as well. Taste of dark roasted malts and a bitterness from these malts as well. Alcoholic aftertaste like its high AVB? Maybe my tongue is just shot from the small amount of wine earlier.

All in all quite good.

I saw this while on vacation in Tennessee, so I grabbed a sixer. Poured into a glass from a 12oz. bottle. The beer poured a deep dark ruby, almost black, forming a thin tan head that quickly faded. The aroma is an inviting mix of roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee. The taste is not as strong as expected from the smell. Roasted malts dominate, then end with a good coffee flavor. No chocolate taste as I thought there would be from the aroma. The only real drawback to this brew is the mouthfeel. The mouthfeel seems alot lighter than one would expect from a porter. I found it to be comparable to the mouthfeel associated with Guinness. Aside from that fact, this beer was truly a tasty offering. Definitely a sessionable and highly drinkable porter. Overall I was glad I tried this while I could. Just another beer to keep an eye out for on those out-of-state trips. Recommended!!

The beer pours a deep, dark black color with a thick frothy tan head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a nice blend of crystal, roasted, and chocolate malts. It's sweet and creamy with a light roasted aroma. The taste is good as well. It has a smooth, black and chocolate malt flavor. It's bitter and dry, yet highly drinkable. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a full bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is a fine drinking porter. It has a very dry finish and as well as a wonderful black malt character. It's quite smooth and easy drinking.

12oz bottle in pint glass

Pours a dark brown with a thin head, not much lace. I usually expect porters to be darker than this. This looks like a dark brown ale. There is a hint of toasted malts in the nose. The taste is slightly malty with a hint of toasted/roasted in the background. Not much punch here, again makes me think of a brown ale. The mouthfeel is on the watery side. This is a nice beer but I think it is mis-named. I would be more positive if they called it a brown ale, as a porter I think it is lacking. I would not be upset if someone gave this to me but, I won't seek it out.

Poured from the 12 oz bottle. This is dark roasty brown with a thin tan head. The aroma is distinctly baking chocolate and coffee grinds. In the flavor, the bitterness of the baking chocolate is still there, but there’s also a sweet flourish and light "bodiedness" to it that did not live up to the aroma’s promise. The flavors mellow more as the beer warms and the palate adjusts. OK, but somewhat a disappointment. (#2689, 2/7/2007)

The beer pours a little watery, but is a really nice dark red, almost purple color with an inch of off tan foamy head. After about a minute the head dissipates into a thin layer, leaving some reasonable lacing behind. Not much of an aroma to the beer, hints of hops, a little chocolate, and malt. Tastewise this thing is "coffee left on the burner for too long". There is a touch of hops, but the main bitterness comes from the overabundance of bad coffee. Very little carbonation and a very weak body. Its not the worst porter I've ever had, but its not something I would rush out to purchase again. It won't deter me from picking up another Wild Goose variety pack though.

Bottle was a 2006 GABF left-over that was given to me as a reward for my volunteer efforts. Thanks a million to GABF and to Frederick Brewing for the opportunity.

Hard pour earned the thinnest ring of browned tan head over a very dark mahogheny brown/red liquid. Smells of water. Roast and a touch of grassy hops. Touch of black patent sour. Dry. Smells like an extract homebrew.

Tastes quite malty sweet. Wet with chocolate and a smooth light-raost coffee. metallic and sour, perhaps from black patent. carbonation amplifies the sour in a non-pleasing manner. Aftertaste of dry and iron. Many of the smae failings at the nut-brown I just reviewed. The presence of roast grains helps to cover them and fill out the flavor profile.

Md body and md carbonation. I certainly didn't need another.

A brown reddish color, slightly transparent, with a small beige head, that dissolves quickly, but leaves traces of itself on top. The strong scent raosted malt and coffee are the striking part of the aroma. The malt starts in at first taste, then the hops come in right the end. Medium to heavy feel, coats the palate, but leaves strong traces of carbonation. A fairly drinkable beer, nice to sip on, a very solid porter.

A - A dark crimson brew with about 2 fingers of head that have decent retention. A little bit of lacing sticks around the glass too.

S - Coffee and toffee odors with a touch of grassiness.

T - Strong burnt flavor with a grassy hop underneath. A very mild cacao is decernable. Very bitter finish that leaves a very foul chemical taste. Nothing impressive all around.

M - Creamy, harsh from carbonation and the finish. I wouldn't call ti refreshing either.

D - It is drinkable, but there are certainly better porter options available. I won't bother with this in the future.

A bit of a disapointment in that this Porter tastes very similarly to their Brown Ale that I had earlier. The roasted malt character is greater in the Porter, but other than that, it's the same beer -- taste-wise. The beer is a bit thin and watery, thus lacks creaminess, boldness, and never becomes characterful. This was acceptable with the lighter Brown Ale, but I expect more from Porters. It looks like a brown-er cola with light carbonation and lacking head retention. Smells caramel malty and mildly roasty. Modesty chocolate / coffee notes pepper the beer slightly, but not enough to make a meaningful impact. Thin and weak in the body with a mild yeastiness. Finishes slight of grainy, but fairly clean.

Poured with a nice thick tan head comprised of small, tightly packed bubbles the slowly diminished over time to become a cap of tan foam. Lots of belgian lace on sides of glass. Color is a dark brown with ruby highlights. When held to the light it shows as a rich reddish brown.

Smelled of malt and chocolate with a slightly sweet aroma.

Tastes of roasted malt with very slight hints of chocolate, toffee and coffee. Very thin taste for a porter. Not much depth to it. Bitter aftertaste more from roast malt than from hops.

Mouthfeel was thin and disappointing.

Overall, very drinkable but not well balanced. I would buy again but it would not be on the top of my list.