Aldaris Porteris

Brewed by Aldaris (Carlsberg)
Style: Baltic Porter
Riga, Latvia

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

Pours a barely transparent dark mahogany with ruby hues and a rich, dense, frothy, well-lacing tan head. Sweet, authentic dark caramel sugar malty aroma has a touch of aged malts, dark fruit and lager yeast. Body starts with lots of sticky sugars, some plum sweetness and a full, bready mouthfeel. Finishes as it started, with plenty of malty sweetness and a touch of mild alcohol. Could definitely use a little more balance or attenuation, but still a pretty nice Baltic porter.

A nice balance of molasses, coffee, and chocolate notes blend into a fine brew. This dark porter is potent at 6.8% abv, but still drinks well. Don’t finish it too fast though, it is pleasantly savored alone or alongside spicy foods. The mouthfeel is thick and earthy, but not syrupy. Overall, very tasty, nice progression from sweet to bitter, but could be more complex and leave you with a nicer after taste.

Another nice Baltic, as they’ve all impressed me. Poured a dark brown mahoganey color with a nice thick tan head. Lacing was adequate. The aroma was malty, spicey, even somewhat of a fruity touch. The flavor was malty rich, rather sweet, and pretty smokey with chocolate / coffee underneath. Mouthfeel was thick and creamy with moderate carbonation. Very nice.

(Bottle BB 21/10/06) Roasted malty and caramel aroma. Black reddish colour and light brown, large, almost fully diminishing head with fair lacing. Sweet caramel, roasted malty, licorice, slightly bitter flavour. Medium-bodied, slightly carbonated, slightly alcoholic and slightly dry palate. Reasonable Baltic porter. 04/06/06

Pours opaque with a medium frothy tan head, mostly diminishing, some feeble lined lacing. Aroma is malt (meal, grain, toast), fruity floral hop notes, dark chocolate and caramel, yeast (leather). Creamy chocolate and caramel malty, slightly sweet, no bitterness, faint alcohol acidic burn. Dark bodied, creamy and smooth palate.

Dark brown with a twinge of red. Aroma of dark coffee. Medium-thick body and sweet robust flavors of toffee, dark malts, caramel and a bit of brown sugar. Finish is a bit bitter but also somewhat sweet.

I wasn’t particularly impressed. Thin bodied and sweet. Interesting bitterness to it. Simply so-so.

UPDATED: APR 26, 2006 Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma of caramel, coffee, chocolate, and hops. Flavor is coffee, sweet, with a some bitterness. Damn i loved this porter.