Stone Hammer Porter
F&M Brewery

While spending the day shopping with my significant other for Halloween trinkets among other things I managed to convince her to stop by Volo for a pint. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was the beginning of their cask fest and English ales were on focus. Looking through the list I opted for the Stonehammer porter as I've enjoyed their pilsner on occasion.

Well a few minutes later a pint of what I can best describe as oil was placed in front of me. Very dark in appearance with deep reddish tones on the edges and a viscous body and devoid of any head whatsoever. Needless to say I was excited.

It smelled of the usual porter tones nice deep rich hints of coffee, chocolate and slight burnt bread.

The dark malts shone through for sure nice roasted oat and hints of cocoa were brought to the fore.
The malt was well balanced by the mild yet present bitterness of the hops.

It turned out to be not quite as full bodied as I would assume my it's appearance, being a little more watery then my liking. Next to no carbonation definitely brought home the fact that this was a cask beer.
A nice beer with good, if muted flavours, it could use a bit more body for my liking but still decent.

Cask porter brewed for Volo's Traditional English Ales event. Standard appearance of a very dark brown (almost black) body, topped by a bubbly tan head, which soon fades to a wispy cap. No lacing, though the cap is maintained for much of the beer. Good roasted aroma, with coffee being particularly prominent. There's a lot of balance going on, and while little else stands out beyond the roasted notes you'd expect, it does strike me as well-crafted. On to the flavour...

Even though the cask was only tapped a night prior, I'm already picking up some slight oxidisation in the flavour. Nothing too bad - just a slightly distracting hint of cardboard and plastic which crops up every now and then. Thankfully, there's a pretty decent beer beyond this, although it does feel more like an English stout than porter. Decent roast notes make their presence felt throughout.Cocoa and caramel mix with fruit to create a lightly sweet balance. Medium to light mouthfeel with restrained cask carbonation. A slightly fuller mouthfeel would have helped beef up the flavours slightly.

This is a decent, though unremarkable, stout / porter hybrid. I enjoyed my beer, but there's not really enough action going on to tempt me back for another. I far preferred the oatmeal coffee stout they offered up at the start of this year, but its nice to get a cask porter, so I can't complain.

Cask at the Volo pre-Cask Days English ale night.

Pours an opaque and slightly muddy dark brown, some reddish highlights, thin light tan head forms, settles to a thin big bubbled ring, no real lacing.

Smell is nice, very malty, some caramel, chocolate, oats, dark fruit, pretty mild in the aroma, alcohol comes through a bit, could use more roast.

Taste is similar, very malty, chocolate milkiness, quite sweet and fruity, caramel, brown sugar, oats, toast, again needs more roast but its not bad.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation, easy to drink. I told George this feels more like a stout than a porter, but it was still pretty solid.