Sterkens Hoogstraten Poorter

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

A recent sample at the bar(n), thanks John. A big wheaty nose with telltale belgian notes. A dark red and very cloudy beer, doesn't look like a baltic porter or smell like one or taste like one. Very much a spicey, dark fruited belgian, and tasty at that.

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

Aroma is smoky and chocolaty with yeast and caramel hints. It pours a dark chocolate brown that is opaque save at the edges and has a very thick, if not persistent, tan head - the sample I got fizzed like nobody's business. Oh noes, wasted beer! Satisfying flavor is malty with smoky, chocolate and nutty tones and just a touch of caramel. Texture is quite fizzy, leaving behind a rather persistent tingle.

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

Ceramic flip-top bottle. With a recent price reduction, I decided to pull the trigger and get this one and came home, cooled it down and enjoyed it very much. The beer pours out a deep amber brown body, mostly hazed with a creamy 1" rocky head. Clearly different from most porters, as the body looked like it came from a soda can. Aroma is dominated by the dried dark fruits (raisins, figs) black walnuts and roasted malts. Bitter chocolate, yeast, light raisins, caramel and slightly nutty on the finish. Carbonation seemed a tad overboard for the style, and wasn’t very enjoyable on that note. Overall, really nice but the price does seem rather high.

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

A very dark brown beer with a huge head. The aroma is dark malt, coffee, and licorice. The flavour is more of the same with the malt really coming through. The finish is slightly bitter.

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

Pours dark caramel with a huge head. Aroma is of dark fruit. Mouthfeel is a bit weak, and by no means should this qualify as a porter. All in all I liked it, but there was something a little off about it too.

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

OK, maybe they got me with the ceramic bottle and flip-top.....but I really liked this beer. This was when I was first getting into Belgian's, but this resembles a porter more than a Belgian Ale. It does have that "Belgian" taste though, from the kind of yeast they use maybe? Is it worth $10 for a 750ml?....probably not, but I am not complaining b/c it was very tasty and a good experience. Don't know if I'd buy again for that coin, but if you haven't tried yet and money isn't really an object, I would recommend at least sampling this beer.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

probably a bad bottle, but as it was my first time trying it, i'll have to rate it from the one time. upon opening, the beer exploded out of the heavy ceramic bottle, and continued to overflow for several minutes. i was able to pour it with two fingers of head. i wasn't expecting a traditional porter (which it is not), but i don't know if the funkiness was on purpose or if the beer was totally spoiled, as i had no frame of reference. i was looking forward to trying a belgian porter, but as we had it, it poured thin, smelled funky, if not spoiled, had a thin mouthfeel and a rather unique, but ultimately boring flavor...like a flanders/porter hybrid. maybe i'll try it again one day to see if what we had was a true representation of this beer, but at the price, it may be a while.

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

Wow, this is strange one....

1) A Baltic Porter, and yet not really clocking in with very much in the way of big alcohol?

2) Ceramic bottle? Flip-top? From Belgium?

3) A Belgian "freeman" Porter. Um, huh?

Have seen this around on the beer store shelves for years, but finally decided to take the plunge and give it a shot.

[Date code 16/11/10 C 14:30..., whatever that means]

Quite fizzy when I first poured off my first glassful of this. Ended up with a full three-fingers worth of foam in my Nonick pint glass. But this soon calmed own, and I ended up with a glass of very dark beer, with subdued and very subtle reddish highlights shining through when held up to the light.

Some basic cocoa notes in the nose, but otherwise, all rather muted and plain in the aroma.

Not bad in the mouthfeel, at least. Thinner than what I like to see in Porters, but too thin and winey, at least. And the aforementioned fizziness isn't a huge player, thanfully, though I did end up belching a bit more than ussual!

Speaking of belching, the aftertaste of this beer is a bit on the rough side of things. Perhaps a little acidic. But otherwise? No real complaints on the flavor profile. Some chocolate/cocoa hightlights, along with some burnt coffee notes. A bit sticky, in that it felt like the beer was clinging onto my back molars for dear life..., but not unduly cloying,at least.

It would be rather crass -- and all too easy -- for me to make light of the name, and call this a "poor Poorter". But that's really not entirely true. This is a beer without significant faults, per se..., but is also rather staid and boring, as far as "true" Porters go.

In other words? Besides the ceramic flip-top 750mL bottle -- the mere oddity of a Belgian Porter -- there isn't much to talk about here. {shrug}

Music: Panzerchrist's "Room Service"
//TB

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

Ceramic bottle. Ruby red colour (alt. reddish brown), big offwhite head (no matter how you poured it, it foamed lots). Aroma is licorace, yeast, malts and caramel. Licorace, malts, yeast and caramel is in the flavour. Very smoothly mixed. Alcohol brings a bit sweetness to the whole, but is not disturbing.

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

Pours a dark murky brown ruby colour..Has a big time musky wine smell, broken down smells of berry; slight chocolate aroma...the extra O stands for Outrageous..nice stuff, has berries, licorice, sweet leather,choc, grape tastes ...subtle brew yet very friendly!