Branded Drinks Coal Fire Porter
Okell & Sons Ltd

Rerate April 2009, 500 ml bottle, as Okells Aile Smoked Celtic Porter, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is now 4.7%. My comments are basically the same as for "Branded Drinks Coal Fire Porter", so the two beers must indeed be identical. A lovely drop!

Original rating: 500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger, under its alias "Branded Drinks Coal Fire Porter". (Are you sure they are exactly the same beer?) ABV is 4.6%. BB date Oct 08. Pitch black colour, large tan head. Lovely aroma of chocolate, roasted malts and plums, with a hint of liquorice. Distinctly roasty flavour with notes of coffee, hints of peat, smoke and tar, bitter finish. The mouthfeel could have been fuller, but this is still a good beer!

Purchased at the Waitrose supermarket in a pack of three selected beers under the brand of Branded Drinks. BB Oct 08, served cool in a jug.

A: almost black, the colour is perhaps the darkest I've seen for a porter; a khaki creamy froth sustains well, carbonation status unknown.
S: sweet chocolatey malts, leather, mildly vinous and jammy fruits as of ripe California black plums and fat black dates, with nutty cream from a brown ale to complete the jigsaw. A sound sourness and refreshing hoppiness constantly stay aside, making the deep and richly malty aroma appear somewhat light. But smokiness is in absence.
T: vinous dark fruits and sour-bitter coffee-ish malts lubricate the palate, delicious and 3D in structure... followed by a leather-ish note, dry but sweet licorice, faintly sweet berry-fruit skins, while the rather restrained smokey aroma mixed of smoked dates, prunes and walnuts lingers quietly to complement the finishing herbal+peppery bitterness.
M&D: slightly powdery and chewy on the palate thanks to the roast malts as well as a good dose of hops, while the mouthfeel remains refreshing yet softly carbonated throughout; this med-bodied and full-flavoured smoked porter is not so smokey after all, but shows a good depth and complexity b/w the tart fruitiness and roast malts. A really delicious porter in my book.