Olde Towne Porter
Olde Towne Brewing Co.

notes from the local watering hole

A- pours in that black brown gray area. 2 fingers of light cream colored head. nice head retention and good lacing for the style

S- light roasted character. a bit of breadiness and cocoa. a bit of a let down in this dept.

T- again, muted roasted/coffee flavors w/ some cocoa. bitter and bready in the finish.

M- very light in body. almost to the point of feeling watered down. the carbo. is right on and saves it from being a total bomb in the feel category. a bit of dryness in the finish.

D- drinks easily but I likely won't revisit as it's not one of my favorites from the local brewery.

Tried this thanks to unclejedi at the HMoG at the Brick Store. This was one of the first ones I tried and I made the effort to make note of this one.

Pours a clear chocolate brown color with an off-white head that leaves decent lacing.

Smells of roasted malts with hints of milk chocolate.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Smooth roasted malt flavors that are less intense than most porters give way to milk chocolate and an ending that's equal parts sweet and bitter.

Mouthfeel is very good. It's got a good thickness with light carbonation that makes this go down very smoothly.

Drinkability is very good. This goes down very easily and the flavors linger leaving me wanting more.

Overall I'm very glad I had the opportunity to try this beer, and even more grateful that it's a tasty beer from Alabama. They still need to free the hops, but they're already on the right track with a beer like this. Thanks again to unclejedi for sharing this.

Huge thanks to unclejedi! I hate to review a beer at an event, but I make exceptions for rare growler beers, so I busted out a piece of paper.

Poured into a 2004 Decatur beer festival tasting glass. Dark brown, very hazy, with a tiny sand-colored head that fades. Decent lacing. Nose is coffee and baking chocolate. Taste is slightly sweet sugary malts, with a solid coffee ground flavor. Mouthfeel is decent, perhaps a little undercarbonated. Pretty drinkable. Quite the respectable brew from Alabama!

Shared by the generous unclejedi at the HMoG at the Brick Store.

Pours an cloudy dark brown with a small tan head that hangs around for a while and leaves a little lacing.

The aroma is big on dark roasted malts with some sweet dark chocolate. There are hints of bitter coffee as well.

The taste really came out of nowhere. It had the roasted presence of the aroma with the same chocolaty sweetness but there was some additional lactose sweetness and a more prominent roasted coffee presence. Really tasty.

The mouthfeel was medium bodied with good carbonation.

This was one of the big surprises of the day for me. It looked and smelled good but tasted great. I guess you can add me to the list of people who hope they bottle this (as long as they send it over to Atlanta).

I really wish Olde Town would bottle this baby! It is a nice dry porter with a solid smoky profile that is remeniscent of a smoked porter, just scaled back a bit. Aroma is roasty and clean. Mouthfeel was just right and the beer was so easy to drink that I wished I was not at a tasting so I could drink one or two of these rather than the half of a pint I limited myself to. Don Alan provided a keg of this stuff at the recent Free the Hops tasting at Olde Town brewery, of which I am grateful. It went great with the smoked gouda squares and spicy sausages provided as finger food. My only qualm is that this beer needs to be bottled . . . ASAP! It is easily the best Olde Town offering yet. If you are in Alabama, get yourself some. I understand various Huntsville pubs carry this and I believe Mellow Mushroom in Birmingham carries the Olde Town seasonals.

Served on-tap at Humphey's, Huntsville, AL.

A: Very dark body, opaque even when held to the light, with a thin off-white head on top. Head dissipates fairly quickly, leaving a mostly flat beer with only a touch of suds.

S: Fairly sweet, raisiny aroma, not too prominent, more like dates than raisins. Some nuts present, earthy, very malty.

T: Large malty taste up-front, nice malty presence, with slight notes of mocha. Slight "sea salt" aftertaste.

M: Mouthfeel fairly thin, but enjoyable to-style.

D: A very drinkable beer. I'm not usually a big fan of porters, but this one was less cloyingly sweet than others I've tasted, and will be a more regular consumption with me if I can continue to find it.