Piston Porter
Oakleaf Brewing Co. Ltd.

On gravity at the Belfast Beer Festival, 2012.

Opaque black with garnet highlights and sandy froth.
Molasses, smoke, a lactic whiff, and baker’s chocolate on the nose.
Tart blackberry, black grape, camp coffee, demerara sugar and a hint of cola then branch hops.
Milk chocolate finish and bitter roasty linger. Medium, chewy, dry.

Lots of roasted melanoidin sweetness, some chocolate and fruit, but very clean finish. A proper porter.

Transcribed from Notes of 24/10/2006, this was the tenth beer tasted at the Capitol, a JDW pub in Forest Hill, SE London, during the chain’s Full Moon Beer Festival. The beer list seems to suggest that this beer is brewed with real licorice roots - very interesting!

A: deep dark brown in colour with mahogany shades, topped with a beige frothy head with reasonable retention.
S: sweet caramel malts and coarse bits of chocolate come with a flow of Cascade's flowery scent and an intense yet soothing aroma of licorice liquor.
T: gristy chocolate malts, soothing and bittersweet, laced with lots of hoppiness as well as roastiness, with an impressive root-herbal edge. The ever-more-soothing finish shows a great length and depth of lingering bitterness.
M&D: the mouthfeel is smooth and lubricating, against a med-full body and a subtly balanced flavour profile; the licorice edge is not imposing at all, serving to complement all the delicious elements of a porter just nicely. This is a delicious, flavoursome porter desinged to quaff!!