Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

I’ve said this before, but it is important to drink porters at room temperature. This is especially true of this one. The full character of this one comes through as it warms. It has the typical dark ebony color of the style. The tannish head is relatively small and settles fairly quickly. Not much lacing is left behind. The aroma is light, but showcases hazelnut flavored coffee. The body is on the thin side of medium. Big carbonation and the right amount of smoothness. The taste is bold, roasted malt and coffee with the sweetness of hazelnuts dominate and balance well. I enjoyed this one. .

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

Dark ruby red colour, small white head. Aroma of smoke and roasted malts. Flavour is very weird, sweetish plummy, candy sugary, nutty and caramellish. Only weak roastiness noteable. Watery brew.

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

Dark brown color with a small head. Aroma of coffee and hazelnuts... Taste: strong notes of coffee, brown sugar and chocolate. The hazelnuts flavour just feel strange. Too sticky and thin (Dr. Pepper) and not very drinkable

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 2 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

KCC Round 4. With "breakfast for dinner" (scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, fried potatoes, mushrooms, cheese). 12 oz brown longneck with burnt orange label. Best before Jan ?? (04, 05, or 06--we're in trouble!). Pours clear and dark midnight brown, with plenty of multivariate tan foam and lots of lace in the early going. The added hazelnut flavoring is predominate in the aroma, with its sweet and off-putting caramel smell masking what might have been a decent porter. There is a very high, tinny note to the flavor profile, experienced in the center of the tounge. A faint malt presence is detected way back at the base of the tounge. Strange mouth sensations. Almost made me want to rinse my mouth and dry off my tounge. The aftertaste is unpleasant and lingers like one of those penny candies after you spit it out. Honestly, rating this beer was more like a job than a hobby. Hesitate to post the rating due to uncertainty about age. Probably should check with my vendor, but I just don't think my main problems with this sample are about its age. I am not likely to really enjoy this hazelnut beer fresh from the vat.

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

I dunno. It is a porter - not really getting the hazelnut connection. Pours dark brown with a slight tan head. Loads of chocolate and malt. All around Ok, but having had so many tastier...well, I dunno.

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

My second beer of the evening, while having dinner at the Topsham pub. (The first was the Old East IPA, which I've had more times than I can count).

I've always had good luck with the beers off the hand-pump at the Topshalm Sea Dog location, and this particular beer was no exception. Fresh off the cask, you just can't beat it. And this beer (which I've had bottled only once before) surely improves it's self-worth from the subtle nuances of cask-conditioning.

Nicely roasted, through and through, with a nice easy-as-you-please quaffability to this one. This is quoted to be around 5.88%ABV, but comes across much less than that, drinkability-wise.

Of course, cask-conditioning can not only highlight a beer's strengths, but also highlight it's weaknesses, too. And in this case, the "hazelnuty-ness" of this beer gives it something of a astrigent dryness in the middle, that may perhaps be hidden by a bit more carbonation. But with cask-conditioning, this sort of thing gets perhaps a bit too much attention. Not a huge fault, and not one that would be noticed in the bottled and keg-beer versions of this, but even still, a wee bit distracting.

But all told, still a nice porter, with enough positive points to wash-out the very few negatives. And nicely poundable, either way. A nice drop, while watching an early April snow flurries shower.

Music: Fall Of The Bastards' "Dusk Of An Ancient Age"
//TB

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

I hope I'm reviewing the right beer. This was Sea Dog RiverDriver Porter. Didn't see anything to do with Hazelnut... Anyways, not bad for a Porter. Pours a syrupy deep brown color, tan head and small amounts of lacing. Lots of chocolate in this beer! Roasted chocolate with malts. Maybe a little thin on the mouthfeel, but pretty good and warming.