Baltika 6 Porter

Brewed by Baltika Brewery (Baltic Beverages Holding - Carlsberg)
Style: Baltic Porter
St. Petersburg, Russia

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

comes in a nice russian looking specially shaped bottle with a logo carved into the glass (prettier than the RB photo) clear very dark brown small light brown head. aroma of brown sugar, dark roasted malts, semi-dark caramel, spicy note that could be very slightly smoke or peat, mild dark beer / porter aroma. flavor is brown sugary sweet, natural licorice, faint roasted grains, hops bring some faint honey like flowery and some pine or grapefruit notes. ends hard roasted , faint charcoal,licorice, aftertaste is roast ,charcoal and licorice. Quite a lot of taste for a "macro" porter, but it does not get as heavy as some of the extreme brews of recent time. Nice licorice, roasted grainy porter with a good alc% and a nice roasted aftertaste.

Bottle. Pours an almost opaque dark brown with a big tan head. Aroma is malty with some toffee and dark fruits, though I’m getting a whiff of something vaguely metallic too. Taste is quite sweet, then melds into a more balanced malty flavor and ends on a slight hop note. Mouthfeel is on the thicker side. A solid porter but not complex enough to be great or amazing.

Black with medium beige head. Sweet aroma with hard roasted malt, caramel, coffee, liquerice and smoke. Somewhat dry flavor with hard roasted malt, liquerice, coffee and alcohol notes. Dry finish.

Poured a very dark, almost black. Very good head. Took a couple minutes to complete the pour. Plenty of frothy head is left after first drink. Smell is dark roasted malts. There is some roastiness coming through as well as some alcohol. Taste is pretty much the same as the nose. However, I’m finding what I think is some kind of candied sugar in the taste. This tastes really good. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy. Soft and not a lot of carbonation to be found. Even at 7% this is highly sessionable. I could drink this all day without a problem. I really like this baltic porter.

Pours a dark brown/black with a small tan head that fades quickly. Aroma is chocolate and a slight hint of alcohol. The taste is mildly roasted malts, lactose, and milk chocolate. Mouth-feel is creamy and highly carbonated. Yumm!

Got a bottle at some Brighton Beach Bodega ($2.50): Pours a not quite black with a tan foamy head. Aroma is of molasses and dark fruit, with a tiny bit of booze. The taste is quite sweet, but the finish discloses some roasted malts with a pinch of bitterness. And did I forget to mention molasses, because there is a lot of that. Medium-full bodied in texture. Like drinking motor oil except not quite that much.

Bottle. Deep near black pour with a decent light tan head that dies down, but lasts a little while. Decent lacing. Fruits, chocolate and roasty flavors. Finish is decent, maybe a little weak for a porter. Cheap enough, would drink again.

UPDATED: NOV 25, 2007 (Bottle from Jena, Germany). Dark body and nice thick head, which doesn’t last very long. Chocolate, roastiness, sweetness, coffee. Very thick overall. A bit too sweet maybe, but overall nicely balanced and not too burnt porter. Bitterness isn’t overwhelming. Nice!