Barley Days Yuletide Cherry Porter

Very grainy aroma has light suggestions of roast and fruit. Clear deep amber-brown coloured body with a low, off white head that recedes to ring. Cherry flavours are lost in graininess with some vegetal notes. Medium body is sticky with low carbonation. Bottle sampled at the MontreAlers Jan. 2006 meeting.

Draught. At Smokeless Joe. When I heard about this, my first reaction was "ooh, Cherry Porter!" followed quickly by "uh oh, Glenora ...". Reality was a little of both. Looked like a strong iced tea in the glass - deep clear red-brown, no head to speak of. Aroma reminded me of cola with light roast malt and sour fruit. The sour fruit dominates the taste, sour berryfruit (blackberry, cranberry, cherry), with a chalky cloying sweetness that reminded me of no-name root beer - there was a hint of roastiness lurking around, but as it warmed that was squashed by a crushed appleseed bitterness. Mouthfeel was thin, dead flat, and sourly acidic. While this may be the best so far from Glenora, that’s damning with faint praise - perhaps the huge tart fruit component was deliberately included to kill the usual infection nastiness.

Draft @ Smokeless. Ruby brown body, with a small film of an off white head. Sweet dark charry aroma is a touch syrupy. Flavour is cherry dominant, with a very slight sour/tart fruity tang. Very mild malt in the middle. Average palate, a touch light though, particularly if its supposed to be a porter. Unexceptional but palatable.

Some promise of fruity flavour in the aroma, a bit of colour, but almost nothing carried through to taste or palate. A plain beer with whatbI think is artificial injection of flavour.

On tap at Smokeless Joe. First pint from the keg and first to rate it, woohoo! The excitement quickly dissipated after trying it. Pours a clear, slightly bubbly, reddish-brown (!) with no head. Very mild semi-sweet aroma of malt and cherries. Flavour of flat Coke or maybe flat cherry Coke, it’s not very good. Very thin body, even for a Porter this is way too thin. To sum up, it doesn’t look, smell or taste like a Porter and it wasn’t very enjoyable. Oh well, at least it wasn’t infected.