Lightning Black Lightning Porter

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Smoky aroma has notes of coffee, malt and yeast. Pours an opaque warm sable with a thick, fluffy tan head. Very appetizing. Flavor is very satisfying - smoky and oily, good tones of coffee, molasses and licorice plus hints of yeast and apple. Texture is smooth and firm, but fizz is lacking. Overall, a darned good porter. Bolt to your package store if they have this one!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

22 oz bottle courtesy of a trade) into a standard pint glass Poured a dark brown, almost black with a huge mocha-colored head which settled to a 1/2 inch. Not much lacing throughout. Nose was roasted dark malts, coffee, some chocolate but a strange smell that was almost like spoiled milk. I am not fond of the latter. taste was consistent - bitter with sweet roasted malts, coffee, vanilla, chocolate, licorice and some dark fruit. FInish is dry and bitter but some sweetness remains to temper it. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy with light carbonation. After each sip, there was a sticky feel as well. This isn't my favorite style but the problem I had with this beer is the sourness, especially the soured milk smell, although there was a kinda' sourness in the taste as well. I will pass on trying this again, even if it were distributed around here (which it is not).

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

Sampled on 12/6/2008. This strong porter pours a dark brown/black color from a 22oz bottle. Small to medium sized tan foamy head. The aroma is chocolate and coffee, with a touch of vanilla. A medium bodied strong porter. The malts are chocolate and coffee. The hops are earthy. Nicely balanced. Very smooth taste. Nice soft carbonation. Hides the alcohol very well. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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

Excessively carbonated as a careful pour yields a six finger thick (including a full finger above the rim of my 25cl tulip glass), browned, dark tan colored head that proceeded to over flow the sides. The beer is quite black, but just shows some touches of color when held up to the light. The aroma has quite a pronounced, fruity, burnt prune note to it. As well as some tart smelling burnt grain notes, a slight burnt vegetal note, some campfire smoke and black coffee aromatics are all noticeable in the aroma. The aroma seems a bit disjointed and not very well integrated & it is either starting to show signs of an infection or the recipe really is not very well integrated.

Rich and malty, the beer is quite thick and chewy with a huge palate coating body. Sweet dark malt flavors contribute notes of chocolate and coffee liquor. The beer finishes with a salty, almost peat smoke character to it that mixes in with flavors of burnt grain, charcoal and dark roast coffee. The expressive fruitiness of the aroma is quite a bit more muted in the flavor, but still comes through just a bit as does a slight, burnt cabbage note towards the finish. This really does have a rich mocha quality to it. This richness is tempered just a bit by an up front, slightly astringent, burnt-charcoal sourness that has a fairly soft effect.

The taste is a lot cleaner than the aroma, so this might actually not be infected, but it is still a bit too disjointed, though I should not that all of these flaws are somewhat subtle, for me they just add up to be a bit too un-savory. The recipe for this beer actually seems like it might be ok, it just seems like the fermentation control or sanitation procedures were not quite there. Hopefully the next batch of this will be much better as both of the beers that I have had from this brewery have been misses. I still think they show some promise and will be keeping a look out to try this again as well as their other brews.

Purchased: South Bay Drugs Pharmacy, Imperial Beach CA