De Molen 1914 Porter

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

Better have plenty of towels handy if you try this bad boy - the bottle I bought fizzed like the champagne that winners of the World Series spray all over the locker room. It pours a nice dark opaque chocolate brown with a thick, if not persistent, beige head. Aroma is not promising - malty, slightly chocolaty and a bit sweet, but not strong. Flavor is malty with just a touch of mocha, not really like a porter. Texture is fairly smooth and quite fizzy. Something of a downer, but not undrinkable.

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

Sampled on 12/12/2009. This porter pours a dark brown color from a 750ml bottle. Large sized beige foamy head. The aroma is chocolate, coffee and sweet. A medium bodied porter. The malts are chocolate, coffee, bready and sweet. The hops are earthy. Slightly sweet. Very smooth tasting. Nice balance. Good carbonation. Its nice to see some breweries reviving old recipes like this. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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

Bottled@Monks Cafe, Wallingatan, Stockholm. Deep brown/black colour, small beige head. Aroma is licorice, mild alcohol, vanilla and some dark dry fruity notes as well. Flavour is coffee, roasted malts, licorice and a lot of maltyness. Some slight chocolate and vanilla in the aftertaste. Very pleasant.

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

Pours out in a hazy ruby brown colour with a small frothy off-white head. Chocolate chips, roasted malts, coffee and mild floral and peppery hops. Medium-bodied with notes of whipped chocolate cream, nuts, toasted grains and grass. Medium bitter and lightly yeasty finish of roasted malts, milky chocolate, minerals and grass.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

Bottle 214 / 708; Sampled July 2008
A soft pour produces a fat-one-finger thick, brown tinged, tan colored head in my New Belgium globe glass. The beer is a dark brown, concentrated amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, ruby hue and lots of carbonation when held up to the light. The aroma is very toasty smelling and is quite noticeable as I am pouring and visually inspecting this beer. Toasty, brown malt notes are joined by coffee-like aromas in the finish. Roasted just enough to contribute a soft sharpness and light acidity to the nose. The roast, the acidity, the malt and the fermentation character combine to provide fruity notes of burnt prunes. Really though the huge, toasty malt aromas are the biggest part of the nose; they contribute aromas similar to deeply toasted whole grain bread, fresh from the oven hardy bread crusts and a light chocolate note.

Very light bodied, especially considering the advertised original gravity of 1.015, but it does have some heft to it and a slight viscousness as it flows across the tongue. Well carbonated, but this doesn't keep this from feeling creamy, especially towards the finish. Up front this has a roast fruitiness to it that is offset in the finish by flavors of city-roast coffee, lightly tannic roast malt and ample toasted grain notes. The finish has a bitter, burnt malt note to it as well as a sharp, charcoal-like acidity (that is not overwhelming) as well as a round hop bitterness. The combination in the finish is actually pretty nice and doesn't over-power the rest of the beer. Despite being so light (without a malty richness), this has a fair amount of sweetness to it that really accents a solid fruitiness that is more like sweet plums than anything; though it does have touches of raisins and a bit of fig-like notes (all of which have been roasted).

A second pour of this reintroduces the carbonation and even provides a bit of a carbonic bite from the excessive carbonation (nothing a few swirls of my glass can't reduce though). Dusty cocoa notes combine with the up front sweetness and ultimately meld in with the amply toasted grain finish. I really like how complex the malt character is here, both the nose and the flavor have a deep toast character to it that really boosts the effect of this beer.

I admit to being a sucker for historical exercises such as this. I would love to hear a bit more about the malt and yeast selection, the latter would be especially critical for a reproduction. While there are times that I wish that this had a bit more fullness to it, the fact that it is so light makes this a very quaffable brew and it isn't anything near watered down feeling.