Black Oak Nutcracker

Brewed by Black Oak Brewing
Style: Porter
Etobicoke, Canada

Delightful flavours of nuts, chocolate, and a hint of coffee (and a lot of smoke!) all over. Thin body. Easy to drink and quite enjoyable, but could have done with a bit more thickness.

On tap at Cest What. Pours black, with big cappucino coloured head, leaves lacing all the way down the glass. Decent roasted malt aroma and great roasted malt flavour, slightly bitter finish.

From the cask at Volo in Toronto. Deep brown colour, toasty malt with some nuttiness. Medium sweetness with light bitterness. The palate comes together really nicely from beginning to end, full bodied with a lasting, creamy texture. I would say average carbonation, but I’m new to casks. I bumped up the overall a bit, because the drinkability is just so good.

Bottle. Pours a very dark brown with a beige head. Aroma is leather and tobacco. Flavor is toasted malts. Can’t really detect any cinnamon. Mouthfeel is a bit watery for a porter. Beer improves as it warms.

341 mL bottle. Almost black with a medium, frothy, brown head. Aroma is interesting; you’ve got the usual porter roast, and I get the cinnamon as well, but there’s something else: Ivory soap. I’m serious. At first, I thought it was my hands, but I never wash my hands. It’s the beer! Fortunately, the beer tastes nothing like soap. (And believe me, I know the taste.) It’s actually quite lovely. The cinnamon is there, but restrained, allowing the roast, bitter chocolate, and vanilla to come out and play. Medium body, medium to low carbonation. A pleasurable distraction.

Aroma is of cinnamon with slight roasted malt and coffee. Appearance is dark brown with a medium off-white head. Lots of lacing. Taste is similar to aroma with some spicyness and chocolate. Overall a solid seasonal.

341 ml bottle from brewery. Pours a deep very dark brown with small tan head. Pleasant caramel, roast and cinnamon nose. Flavour is very roasty/coffeeish with cinnamon coming through more subtly towards the end. Light bitterness in finish. Enjoyable.

Can 341ml. @ Chriso’s pre GBBF Shindig ’09.
Clear dark brown color with a average, frothy to creamy, good lacing, mostly lasting, beige head. Aroma is moderate to light light heavy malty, roasted, spicy, cinnamon - anis. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration and spicy. Body is medium, texture is oily and sticky, carbonation is soft. [20090801]