Lord-Lieutenant’s Cream Porter
Chiltern Brewery

330ml bottle.
L: Dark brown with slightly strange pale green edging. Off-white head is creamy but short-lived.
S: Faint aroma of chocolate.
T: More assertive chocolate flavour with a distinctive, lightly spiced, plum pudding aftertaste.
F: Light body, moderate carbonation, dry finish.
O: Smooth & tasty chocolate porter.

 

Purchased in “The Deli” (just an off-license shop, really) in Oxford, coming in a slim brown 330ml bottle, bottle-conditioned and the expiry date is 04/09/10, meaning I’m drinking this beer more than a year past its advised shelf life~ Served cool in Hapkin’s bulb-shaped sniffer. Note: the beer label specifies that the ingredients include roasted malts, full cone Challenger, Fuggles and Goldings hops.

A: pours a very dark brown colour with ruby hues, coming with rather low level of carbonation and a thin, fast-dissipating dark beige foam.
S: the smell is more like an old ale to be honest, full of rusty, savoury-sweet and stale-ish sour notes of dried berry-fruits, raisins, black prunes, etc., on a bedrock of honey-ish & syrupy pale malts and chocolate malts. Not so much of roastiness is detected as suggested by the beer label, but all in all this is definitely like a more potent old ale. The hop contents are rather subdued on the nose, by the way, firmly in line with the traditional style of porter and old ale (based on my limited understanding, of course).
T: rather sour/vinegary on the palate, suggesting that the beer is not on top form at all – due to expiry date issue, I suppose? Behind the stale-sour edge, the flavour gives plenty of hints on chocolaty & lightly roasted malts, while not at all sour-fruity as the nose suggests, leaving traces of mainly wet fat prunes along with semi-burned adzuki beans. The aftertaste turns semi-dry with a bit of woody touch but not really bitter, showing a decent input of the hops on the balance.
M&D: despite expiration, the carbonation has been surprisingly well preserved, albeit not to the point of being fresh or soft, etc.; I think, the yeast sediments have given up the fight hence the stronger indication of vinegary taste and smell, than that of more normal notes of sour fruits on balance with dark malts in this full-bodied porter-style ale. Would love to try another bottle again if it’s not expired, and I have a feeling that it could well be a seriously good drink.

Pours very dark brown/amber. Small head Smells very sweet of roasted malt. Matching sweet taste makes only a brief appearance at the very beginning and is followed by a more prominent hop bitterness. Pretty nicely balanced, but I think the hops actually dominate. Big roasted flavor, a little smokey. The hop bitterness gives the impression of espresso that can be found in other porters/stouts. Nice. Leaves a pleasant burnt flavor in the mouth. The only thing keeping me from a 4.5 is a slight alcohol sting towards the end. You can tell this beer has lost a bit of carbonation, as it is about 10 months past the best before date, but a good amount comes through on the back end of the taste. Although I haven't tried it fresh, I don't think this one has lost much because there are no signs of oxidation and such, and the hops are still kicking. The very reason I bought it was because it was outdated and thereby half-priced (75 pence!) at the Deli in Oxford and I'm damn glad I did. This tasty brew has become a staple of my poverty-ridden beer budget here in the UK.