Berkshire Draymans Porter

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co.
Style: Porter
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Pours a dark brown. Not quite opaque. Light tan head rises. Creamy smooth with decent staying power. Roasted aroma, dark fruits and chocolate. Lighter flavor. Bit of cocoa and sweet malts. Slight hint of hop bitterness. Very smooth texture. Creamy and coats. Perfect carbonation. Silk. Overall, not bad. Could use a little more flavor, a little more up front. Very drinkable.

A great simple porter. Dark color and off white head. An aroma of chocolate and roasted malt mixed in with some caramel and wood chips. Smooth light body and ends with a roasted coffee bitterness.

In short: A nice highly roasted chocolaty/coffee stout-porter. Very good even if not original.
How: Bottle 22oz. Consumed relatively fresh a two months after purchase
The look: Very dark brown body topped by a medium tan head with medium retention
In long: Pleasant nose of roasted wood and chocolate. Taste is very roasted (lots of burnt toasts) with chocolate covered brownies, coffee and some caramel. A little floury sensation and. Hops come through with a woody character. Finish is very bitter but this is not hop bitterness, this is a dry bitterness coming from the high roasted level. The beer is also very astringent, a little too much so. Nothing really original here. But the beer is very tasty and I like highly roasted stouts because they are dryer and therefore more sessionnable to me. Draymen, we don’t really have those any more, they have been replaced by trucker drivers, that’s more pollution in the air but less shit on the streets. Except for New-Jersey who probably have both.

8th August 2008. On tap at GBBF. Smooth silky porter. Not fruity or dy or bitter. Just nice smooth dark malt with a little chocolate.

On tap (cask I seem to recall) at Bukowskis, Boston, October 2009. Black with a decent head. Roast malt and chocolate throughout. Touch of bitterness at the end. A satisfying soft and creamy stout-like Porter.

Courtesy of BA trade. Pours dark brown, mocha to off-white head. Aroma is malty, grainy, light hops with hints of dark fruits. Flavor, malty, nice chocolate/mocha and caramel palate. Some nutty, coffee milk touch. Medium carbonation, possibly some fruits. Drink this at near room temp, enhanced chocolate malts with faint bitter hops in teh finish. Really nice.

In front of light it’s cherry red; in the shadows it’s nut brown. Big foam-rubber head. Combination of mild mocha and leathery notes. Hint of tobacco. Roasted malts with that smoky kind of aroma. Complex and wonderfully dark. Heavy, toasted malts with smoky tobacco flavors. Earthy, muddy flavor (a good thing). Roasted malts are understated, not fetishized or extreme. The feels is not that of a choker but thick and full-bodied. This is really a fine porter; full of dark flavors, but not a black hole. Really pleasant and delicious.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown color with a creamy off white head. Nose is mocha and metallic with a light coffee note. Palate is smooth with a light metallic tinge. Flavor is light coffee with a hint of chocolate malt and a light hop note.