Obolon Porter

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

Dark amber color with thin tan head. Aroma starts off sweet and quickly becomes more like hay, interesting. The hay smell slowly dissipated as the beer warmed. Surprising flavor for a Porter. I taste sweet malts, grainy malts, oatmeal and then a bit of chocolate and toffee. Enjoyable flavor.

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

Pours with a frothy, very lightly browned, tan colored head that sits on top of a very dark brown colored beer. When held up to the light it shows an almost brilliantly clear, deep red color and lots of carbonation. The aroma smells quite sweet and for some reason makes me think of cocoa puffs breakfast cereal; there really is something that smells of sweet, toasted grain and chocolate syrup. Somehow this is really weird smelling, yet it is at least quite interesting.

Sweetish tasting, with a deeply nutty flavor that is backed by a dusty cocoa note and a noticeable bitterness that seems more roast grain derived than from hop character. Light sherry notes signify some age and oxidation. Fairly fizzy and almost light bodied for a beer of this strength. What is interesting about this beer is how the light oxidation produces a nice nuttiness that mixes quite well with the roast malt notes of cocoa and light coffee.

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

This East Europe representation of the stout pours lighter than it's Irish cousins. More reddish-brown body. A light brown head. Malty-caramel with a little more bitter hop than other stouts.

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

Pours a dark mahogany with a thin off white head. Aroma is strong toffee, caramel, light smoky alcohol and raisin notes. Flavor starts sweet molasses, toffee and caramel, some raisiny thick sweetness follows before finishing out with some light peppery alcohol. Some smoky whiskey like flavors emerge midpalate as it warms.

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

I was dismayed to see that this did so weak within style, as it was rather enjoyable to me. The pour was dark brown-ruby with a nice off-white to tan head that had decent retention, weak lacing. The aroma was vinous, some raisins and other dark fruits, light cocoa and chocolate, and some caramel. The flavor followed suit with sweet caramel, vinous and dark fruit notes, and with a little bit of chocolate in the finish. With increasing temperatures even a light touch of smoke entered into the picture. The flavor was perhaps a little sweet and astringent at the same time, yet pleasing to my tastes. The mouthfeel was moderate for the style, moderate to heavy overall, average carbonation within style. A nice beer, exceeded my expectations (although not as "clean" within style as its best peers), and it was priced pretty nicely.

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

I do not know why, but I didn't expect much from this Ukraine Porter, and was very surprised as to how much I liked it. I had to read the history of this brewery to find the answer as to why this was a really good porter. It pours to a reddish brown color with light tan head. It has a slight aroma but it is the flavor that surprised me. It comes out from the beginning with a roasted carmely flavor, with a good balance of sweet to bitterness. They did a good job with there carmely malt and hops to get this flavor combination. I finishes a small bit of bitterness to the palate but all in all, I really like this beer from the Ukraines No. 1 brewery.

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

Very dark red with a light brown head. Lots of cherry notes along with some roast. Cherry, raisin, and nuts in the flavor. Sort of skunked. Thin. Eh.

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

Bottle.Deep chestnut colour with a slim tan head. Nice malty aroma. Very nice malty taste, caramel, some late alcohol and a nice light hoppy finish. Medium bodied, moderately carbonated. Very good porter.