Atlantic Coal Porter

Brewed by Atlantic Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Bar Harbor, Maine USA

Pours a very dark brown, nearly black, with a thick light tan head. Aroma is lightly caramely sweet and roasty with a hint of coffee. Body has good thickness and malty sweetness with a smooth, balanced finish. A very nice porter.

Poured a dark reddish, brown color with an averaged sized off white head. Aromas and tastes of mocha and coffee. Light smoke as well. Lightly sweet and lightly bitter.

Bottle... Clear, ruby ale with a small, creamy, beige head. BIG MOCHA, caramel and vanilla in the aroma. Thin flavor, but perfectly balanced with small notes of coffee grounds and cocoa powder. Light-bodied and dry with fizzy carbonation. Thanks to growler for sharing the bottle with me!

Bottle, at Brickskeller, RBSG weekend, July 2006. Dark brown. Not opaque. Sweetish roasted malt aroma. Dryer on the palate with some chocolate notes. Smooth, but light, mouthfeel. Nothing spectacular here, but pretty solid.

Bottle, shared by Papsoe. It poured unclear, brown, with a reddish hue and a bit small, beige head. Coffee, mocha, some chocolate and burnt malt in the aroma. Dryish in the mouth, with burnt notes, lots of malt, and mocha, finishing with a wee hoppy bitterness. Medium fullness. A nice beer, but it could use some more hops to balance it. (071005)

Dark brown black beer, thin dark tan head. Nice sweet chocolate and toffee aroma. Some toast and herbal hoppiness. Flavour is also sweet and toasty, chocolate, some roast and a good amount of bitterness. Well-hopped (both bittering and flavouring). Earthy and slightly chewy. Dark chocolate, light roast and a long bitter finish. Nice beer.

Any first impressions?
-A ring resides above the near-opaque black with brown highlights.
-Vanilla infusions and dry roastiness join for a sweet but never rich malty aroma.
-Nutty vanilla and crisp roastiness are slickly united in a wet mouthfeel.
-The slight bubbliness and thin body expose the lack of maltiness (for my tastes in porter).

What if you dig deeper?
-Molasses and brown rum reach the nose after a while.
-It finishes sweet and earthy, with subtle roastiness.
-A passable porter, far from the "hearty" and "rich" objectives they set out in their commercial description. 3.1/5

On tap in Bar Harbor.

Later, a bottled impression.
-Crunchy roastiness, citrusy hoppiness, and suave maltiness evolve into roasty and herbal bitterness, all linked by ongoing molasses.
-The mouthfeel is chewy, much more so than the tap version I had, aptly carbonated, and nourishing.
-A most interesting improvement on the first sample, this bottled form was a very flavorful and well-structured porter. 3.5/5

Bottle; no date notched.

Pours a dark brown with a thin tan head. Smells of coffee, chocolate and caramel. Tastes of bitter dark chocolate with a peppery finish.