Alaskan Pilot Series: Baltic Porter

Brewed by Alaskan Brewing Co
Style: Baltic Porter
Juneau, Alaska USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

$8.49 for a bottle; I took the chance and OMG this is fucking delicious. One of the most distinctive beers or this or any style I can remember. On the flavor is some kind of caramelly, toffee-ey, sugary-sweet (without being cloying) character. Like oak-aged cherry is in here as well; cheating off the description here, I can readily see a cherry-vanilla thing as well, not unlike a soda spiked with that flavoring. I could even see the banana aspect as others here have described; it’s perhaps like the flavoring used in a fruit smoothie, quite breezy for lack of a better word. And it goes down as smooth as silk. Gets knocked down a peg for no head-retention. A very special beer; just too bad it’s priced so damn high.

one of the finest beers i’ve ever had. vanilla, chocolate, and cherry balanced with warm alcohol notes. very smooth, decadent. a well balanced work of art.

This mostly smells of the brown sugar surprisingly, dominating the other elements one would imagine to be more aromatic in general. This is very good. Sweet. Tons of flavor. Doesn’t very strong at all. Good cherry flavor with the vanill and wood there as well. Each element is subtle on its own but complex and fantastic together. Great finish. I really loved this one.

Appearance: Pours a dark mahogany with a decent tan layer of froth. Aroma: Sweet cherry, and very faint roast. Taste: A great pronounced balance of cherry, vanilla and oak. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied. Overall: One of the best beers I have had this year, and surely my favorite from Alaskan. An amazing use of oak and cherries.

22oz bottle - SJ BevMo

Aroma - tons of decadent chocolate covered cherries, brown sugar, roasted malts, vanilla, Skor candy...completely unexpected.

Appearance - jet black body, dense light to medium tan creamy head.

Taste - enormous malt chocolate body. A definite dark chocolate lovers dream here. Cherry flavor remind me of the black cherries in black cherry ice cream. Brown sugar notes, vanilla, lightly roasted...yowza.

Overall - just a stunning beer and completely suprised by this. This would hold up incredibly well in a blind tasting with some highly ranked stouts I think. Kudo’s to Alaskan Brewing, who continue to churn our great beer.

2009 bottle from Sun Devil. I really like this, obv. Nose is nice and big, with chocolate, coffee, vanilla, a really nice oak character and slight, sweet bourbon that goes well with the dark cherry they used. Flavor is exactly the same, with all elements fusing nicely, esp the oak and coffee. Nice roast is evident. Color is thick black with a robust brown head. This should be ther highest-rated beer, IMO.

(bottle - 22 oz - 2009 vintage) Deep oily black pour with a thin brown head. Big roasted malt and wine-like aroma with tons of dark fruits and roasted coffee. Flavor is a big roasted coffee and malt blast with a ton of wine and dark fruit notes at the tail end. Roasty but smooth and warming all the way down. Took the age very well.

Black, tan had w. nice lacing. Nose is cherries, caramel, alcohol, some vanilla, barrel softness, roasted figs. Flavor is caramel, cherries, maple cream, brown sugar, honey. Alcohol is there but hot overwhelming. Finish has vanilla maple & brown sugar w. some really nice roasted caramel maltiness. A stunning beer.

Bottle from South Bay Drugs and Liquor: Created a thick puffy sized head that lasted for quite some time while the liquid was a darker than usual porter brown color, and had some reddish transparency. In the nose, an upfront cherry chocolate aroma that had a background of vanilla bean and oak which made me sigh with relief because this just had to be good hence why I awarded a perfect score for its aroma. The flavor is robust and rich with sugary sweetness from the brown sugar which actually becomes more apparent in the flavor then it ever allowed in the initial aroma. Also, there is a subtle touch of vanilla that tastes all natural, and so do the cherries used. Surprisingly, the cherry flavor doesn’t have the artificial can or jar made cherries and instead has similarities to a wild black cherry picked with a hard seed in the center. Considering all the other elements in the mix, the cherry, vanilla, and brown sugar are well balanced in proportion with light roasted malt and faint presence of oak chips which could have fooled me as if this beer was barrel aged in brandy or oak barrel. It practically never heard of for a west coast brewery to make a Baltic porter, but I’m glad someone from the west did it even if they are in Alaska. Thank you for making this available in bottles and in heavy distribution because I have a hunch this is a beer a lot of people will enjoy more than once.

Bottle: Poured a light black color porter with a quite large light brown foamy head with good retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of lightly sweet black chocolate is dominant and very enticing. Taste is also dominated by well balanced sweetness with some quality black chocolate notes. It seems almost impossible for some chocolate malt to taste so good and it makes me wonder if some syrup were used. In any cases, this is an incredible treat and something I wish I would have access to. Body is full with some good carbonation and no signs of alcohol.