Baird Kurofune Porter

A Mes rate. Bottle at home.
Murky dark brown with a thin off white head. Lactic and milky aroma with hints of caramel, leather and chocolate. Convincingly English. The flavour is again a very honest take on an English porter. Nice and roasty, more caramel and chocolate than there was in the nose. Really good bitter notes and just a pinch of sourness. Nice and light in the body with just the right level of carbonation. Tangy hops in the finish with a lengthy bitter chocolate aftertaste. Drinks like a 4% beer and slips down easily. Nice warming feel too. Really impressed with this.

12 ounce bottle from College Liquors. Pours a somewhat cloudy brown color with a large beige head, very frothy. A roasted malt nose, some coffee perhaps, light fruits and earthy notes. A sweet flavor of cherries, toasted malts, milk chocolates, mocha, sweet and easy. Pretty nice. A fairly straightforward and nice porter.

Serving: 12 oz. bottle. Appearance: Pours the deepest of browns with nice ruby highlights. A huge, creamy, tan head sits on top. Excellent head retention and good lacing all the way down the glass. Aroma: Roasted malt, mocha, earth, and some alcohol. Flavor: A sharp roastiness greats me first then I get slight burnt malt and coffee notes. A decent balance of malt sweetness and bitterness with the bitterness winning out. Palate: Medium carbonation with a medium, smooth mouthfeel and a long, roasty finish. Overall: A big and roasty porter that is sure to satisfy. Definitely worth a try.

THOUGHTS: Interesting porter. Fairly traditional. Very nice, but I was expecting some sort of Asian flair. The only thing I thought I noticed was a hint of the ocean in the aroma. It might have been a touch skunked, but the beer wasn’t affected enough not to rate. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was nearly black in the glass, but was bright red in the light with an average to large, off-white head that mostly diminished, but somehow left excellent, clumpy and clinging lacing all over the glass. The aroma was moderate to heavy roasted malt and mild coffee with a hint of milk chocolate; and something slight salty like the ocean of seafood. The initial flavor was sweet and slightly sour; while the finish was lightly sweet, sour and slightly bitter with an average duration. There was roasted malt, chocolate, a lot of coffee, sour coffee, bitter coffee; a little sour fruit and cocoa powder. The medium body was fairly oily and then very dry with lightly fizzy carbonation and a metallic, lightly astringent and very dry finish.

Bit pour -- quite airy, with an artistically cascading head of tan foam. The aroma is quite tart -- fruity even, especially for a porter. This drinks with a interesting kick of light licorice right up front, and that sticks through the glass. Kinda like a funky malt candy at the movies! Not bad. (#3701, 10/18/2009)

Draught at Harajuku Taproom. Dar brown - offwhite head. Roasted, licorice, dark bread, light berries, chocolate, toffee, caramel, light creamy, light burned notes. Ok - but a bit plain.

Black off white head. Aroma is lightly smokey, roasty, caramel, light chocolate, toffee. Taste is lightly roasty, milk chocolate, cream, caramel.

Bottle. Large tan semi-frothy, semi-fizzy head with decent retention, good amount of lacing, transparent reddish-brown body, and visible carbonation. The aroma consisted of chocolate, roasty notes and malty. The flavor was coffee, chocolate, roasty, somewhat of a burnt taste, and a semi-dry finish. The mouthfeel was very smooth and this is a medium bodied beer. An easy to drink porter, worth a try and I would drink this again.