Polar Night Chocolate Porter
Alley Kat Brewing Company

Very dark brown in color and letting very little light through it even when held up to it, pours with a nice two and a half fingers of dense, mocha colored head with a very long lasting retention to it that leaves thick curtains of lacing.

Aroma is mild with a lot of cocoa powder and hints of nutty toffee.

Lower then expected sweetness to it, full bodied with a load of coffee flavor too it, rich but not overly bitter, medium to heavy bodied but with a higher then average carbonation to it, keeping it from feeling to heavy.

Nice mild coffee bitterness on the back-end with a bit of a bittersweet 70 percent plus, dark chocolate flavor to it, that has a very faint sour hint to it as it warms up, finishing with a slightly hoppy with an earthy, tobacco quality to it with a ghostly hint of burnt sugar and charred husky grains, slightly off-dry with an odd Guinness like creaminess that lingers on the palate.

341ml bottle poured into tulip.

Pours a very dark clear brown with a thin ring of cappuccino head that leaves mottled lace as it recedes.

Smells of dark chocolate candy bar, toasted caramel malt, cold coffee, mild vanilla, smoke and muddled dark fruit.

Tastes of black coffee, milk chocolate, toasted grain, more soft vanilla and more dark fruit.

Feels mild and smooth. Medium bodied with sturdy carbonation. Finishes dry.

Verdict: Recommended. Good after coming in from the cold.

A- The head pours with a 3/8" thick foamy head that is dark tan in color and with fine looking bubbles....these dissipate slowly into a thin layer over the beer itself. Speaking of the beer, it is a very dark cola color with little to no clarity, has sticky lacing that clings to the inside of the glass and retains an artistic character as it drifts back into the liquid. Carbonation is much too hard to see what is happening....overall a nice looking porter!

S- Heavy on the cocoa and/or dark chocolate content, alongside black coffee, blackstrap molasses, a wafer like biscuit and yeast, some vanilla extract, robust chocolate and black malts, and the finish is clean, with some mild hop bitterness and Earthy dryness. Very dessert like overall on the nostrils!

T- Flavors follow suit to the aforementioned aromas, with the coffee and chocolate being heavy right upfront, with background notes of vanilla, yeasty rye bread dryness, some Earthy mineral and soil, burnt brown sugars, unsweetened cocoa and a finish that showcases the hop bitterness more so than I would have initially have thought, and it lingers for sometime after the taste...quite flavorful!

M/O- Smooth creamy mouthfeel....medium full body, and the carbonation is wee tight, allowing the full flavored nature of the brew to coat the palate warmly. All the same, this is highly drinkable and social.....I find I could enjoy a few of these in a sitting before developing palate fatigue. Would pair well with a beef stew or chocolate cake on a warm Winters' eve! Well done Alley Kat!

 

341ml bottle - a new six-pack from this typically bomber-heavy brewery.

This beer pours a clear (I think), dark, amber-highlighted brown colour, with four fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly fizzy beige head, which leaves some decent splotchy snow rime lace around the glass as it slowly seeps away.

It smells of bittersweet cocoa powder, bready and doughy caramel malt, a lesser biscuity toffee sweetness, indistinct black stone fruity notes, some wispy free-range ashiness, and plain earthy, musty, and floral green hops. The taste is rich medium chocolate pudding, gritty and grainy caramel malt, toffee squares, a bit of wet char, still hard to pinpoint dark fruit, and more earthy, herbal, and floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly benign in its apathetic-seeming frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and pretty darned smooth, with a nice airy creaminess evolving as things warm up a smidgen around here. It finishes well off-dry, the cocoa and malt lingering for days, I say!

Overall - yup, they brought the confectionery goods with this offering, creating a very flavourful and engaging Porter. I'm not drinking this at night, unfortunately, but the afternoons have become a lot more polar of late, so there's that. Good, good stuff.