Bristol Smokebrush Porter

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

It pours a dark mahogany brown with a fairly thick light-tan head and copious lacing. An aroma of roasted malts, smoked oysters, dark coffee beans, milk chocolate, orange and citrus, subtle hops, light raisins and prunes, molasses, some bitterness and light spiciness. The mouthfeel is smooth and rich. Flavors of roasted malts, smoked oysters, dark coffee beans, milk chocolate, orange and citrus, hops, molasses, light raisins and prunes, bitterness and light spiciness. Excellent!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Aroma was the highlight of this offering from Bristol, nice roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee with tiny hints of smoke. Mouthfeel was creamy but light, flavor was a bit of a let down considering the aroma, it was rather bland in comparison.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces three-fingers of a light brown colored head that recedes at a medium pace and leaves some light lacing. The beer is quite black, but does show a concentrated, brilliantly clear, dark ruby hue when held up to the light. The aroma has a nice smoked malt character to it that is noticeable as I pour this brew. The smoke almost adds a sweetness to the aroma and there is also a well toasted, slightly burnt roast malt character. Aromas of dark roast coffee, sweet beech wood smoke, a touch of burnt pine needles, lightly burnt caramel, a burnt nuttiness and even a touch of toffee.

This has a nice creamy mouthfeel to it, but is still pretty quaffable; actually this is quite smooth and easy to drink. Both some residual malt and the smoke character contribute to a clean sweetness that helps to offset the roast malt character. This finishes with a dark chocolate note and a nice, though light, sharp roast character, a faint, burnt grain bitterness and some light espresso like acidity. The smoked malt character is somewhat subtle (at least I could see people missing it entirely), though it certainly adds a lot of complexity to the flavor. The sweetness also brings out some concentrated fruit flavors reminiscent of moist prunes and raisins.

This is a nice porter, I really like the smoke addition, it is not a dominant note, but is significant and adds lots of interesting complexity to this Porter.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

22 oz bottle. Pours a dark brown with a wispy head (even after a vigorous pour) that quickly diminishes to a thin collar.

The aroma is sweet chocolate malts, lactose, some acidic coffee and very subtle smoke.

The flavor is pretty subdued - some sweet chocolate with a slight bitter / acidic coffee-ish finish. The mouthfeel is medium to thin and slightly watery.

Overall, I was disappointed by the lack of smoke and by how subdued (almost bland) this beer was. It does get better as it warms.