[1] Review by Clash from Chattanooga, TN, USA who has tried this beer once. (7/22/2007 10:07:53 PM)
"A black apperance to this beer. Some coffee, chocolate, and caramel in the aroma. The flavor is mainly chocolate and coffee with a hint of licorice. The palate was a little disappointing. A rather thin bodied porter. Overall it was pretty good though.
"
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.6)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
[2] Review by Stoutlover72 from Northern, California, USA who has tried this beer once. (4/12/2007 1:31:34 AM)
"NorCal tasting Apr 07 - Yowza!! What do we have here!! What an awesome beer!!! Now this is what I wish more brewers would do with their Baltic Porters. Make it so it's refined, clean and smooth yet still pack a serious punch. Aroma is dark fruit, caramel, toffee, baker's chocolate with some underlying smoke. Appearance is perfect. Flavors were intense, yet smooth enough to not be overpowering. Any more and it would have been a ragged stout and any less unrefined. Dark fruit, baker's chocolate, roasted malts, and toffee with just enough of a subtle hop kick to remind you it's there. Nice job and highly recommended."
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
10/10
Mouthfeel:
8/10
Flavor:
9/10
Overall:
9/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(4.4)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 22oz @ $0 Unit Cost: $0 per Pint
[3] Review by Phil B from Gatineau, Canada who has tried this beer once. (7/28/2006 1:23:11 PM)
"Bottle: Poured a pitch-black porter with a small foamy dark head with average retention. Aroma of chocolate is well mix with some roasted malt. Taste is a mixture between sweet malt with slight roasted bitter touch and some smooth chocolate undertones. Creamy texture is really interesting but body is lacking. This is a really good beer that would have been great had there been a more fuller body."
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
6/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
8/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.6)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
[4] Review by EyeChartBrew from CA, Liechtenstein who has tried this beer once. (6/28/2006 10:30:49 PM)
"~ 22oz bottle, purchased in the Vienna/Tyson's Corner area of VA, for a mere $4.99.
And why, perchance, do I say "...a mere $4.99"? Only in that, to me, it's obvious that this is a great bargain, for a pretty great beer!
And while my exposure to Southampton has only thus far consisted of gifts from afar, this first Southampton that I actually purchased with my own cash is definately a very worthy step in the right direction. Translation? I like this, and want to buy more of it, and more from of the brewery's other offerings, too!
What is there to like? I dig the looks: lots of rocky foamy head, that lasts and lasts, and produces some stubborn lacing, too. I admit that my sense of smell has degraded a bit through the past year or so, but when it comes right n' easy to my senses, it's surely got a nice aroma indeed.
Flavor-wise, I'm glad to find that the brewers did not "eXtreme" {sic} this beer to death. That is to say, it's pretty big on it's own accord -- and in accordance to what was de rigeur back in the day when this sort of beer was brewed in England, and shipped to Russia, the Baltics, Sweden, etc. That is to say, hearty enough to survive to voyage, and still beefy enough to cut the Wintery weather et al....
The same can also be said for the the hop profile. It would have been child's play to dump in more hops than neccesary for this sort of beer, call it an Imperial Russian Stout, and be done with it. But this beer -- and it's subtley -- seems to rise above that sort of shortcut. Rather, the hopping (I'm guessing of a British nature) is only in effect to balance things out, and to give a certian amount of piquancy needed to keep this beer lively, whether that be after an ocean voyage across the North Sea, or simply from the brewery to my Holiday Inn glass tumbler-full... :)
The roasty malt works well here, in giving this beer's mouthfeel a certian "rough on the outside, sweet & tender within" character that everybody secretly loves in, say, the sterotypical boxing manager character in seemingly every boxing movie made since the "talkies"....
Cocoa and chocolate are late-comers to the party, but not unwelcome, in the least. They only had additional layers of compexity in the end-game of this bad boy.
A style that has been slowly gaining a following in the US, with more and more folks discovering that they can get their Porter roastiness, in an adult-sized ABV% too... ;^)
Recommended.
//TB"
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
9/10
Flavor:
9/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(4.1)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 22oz @ $4.99 Unit Cost: $3.63 per Pint
[5] Review by lilkem from Marietta, Ohio, USA who has tried this beer once. (5/15/2006 5:17:35 PM)
"This is a damn decent beer. A nice so-dark-brown-its-almost-black color to it. Aroma of vanilla extract, melted bittersweet chocolate, some molasses, some oak, and some nutty flavors as well to round it out. Very sweet, very well rounded. ALmost has a cream soda flavor. Nice cocoa flavors with that same bittersweet chocolate flavor. Some vanilla bean flavors, and some molasses as well. MMMM I like. "
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
7/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
9/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.8)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
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(3.6)
