Porter time

I do love the dark beers, so this week Im trying another porter. This is the Walkers Reserve Porter, from Firestone Walker Brewery in California.

It starts off a beautiful opaque coffee color, with plenty of foam and a tan colored head. The aroma is a bit weak, but you can definitely smell the sweet malt and fuggle hops. The first sip comes across smooth and drinkable. Its lightly sweet, with plenty of body, almost like a milk stout. You get some deep toasted coffee flavors along with hints of date and walnuts. The hops are a nice counterpoint, but not overpowering, just enough to give it some sour bite at the end. I could easily put down a couple of these.

Scoring:

Look: 5 - opaque black

Aroma: 3

Taste: 4 - sweet and drinkable

Feel: 4 - plenty of body

Classic Porter

If you know me, you know I like the dark beers. Today we have the Porter from Butte Creek Brewing in Montana. The bottle says its organic too.
It's a great color for a porter, deep chocolate brown with a solid creamy head. The aroma has lots of malt, and hints of brown sugar, chocolate, and fuggle hops. The first taste has plenty of malty flavor, but what catches me right away is the watery mouthfeel. I had expected more body from a porter, this struck me as thin. The flavor is still excellent, with deep coffee and bitter hops all the way through. Very drinkable.
Scoring:
Look: 4 - classic opaque brown
Aroma: 3 - malty
Taste: 3 - layers of porter
Feel: 2 - watery
Total: 3

Spring beer

With Spring come the bock beers! Traditionally, bocks were brewed by monks to drink during Lent. They were required to fast during this time, so they would make stronger, richer beers to give them calories. This is a classic, the Spaten Optimator Doppelbock from Munich. Beers ending in "ator" are typically strong sweet bocks.
It pours a deep dark coffee color, with a light head. The aroma is sweet and malty, even a bit medicinal, and you can tell the alcohol content is high. I get notes of raisin and even banana in there. The flavor pours across your tongue, very strong and heady, with lots of sweetness. The medicine flavors come out, but not overly strong, and you get some fruity notes in there too. The aftertaste is more alcohol than hops, which isnt necissarily a bad thing.
Scoring:
Look: 4 - deep coffee
Aroma: 3 - sweet
Taste: 2 - a bit too medicinal for me
Feel: 4 - thick
Total: 3.25