Fuller’s London Porter (Cask)

Brewed by Fuller’s
Style: Porter
London, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Cask @ Charlies Bar, Copenhagen. Nice and Smooth with a full taste of burned malt and notes of coffee and chocolate.

DAMN! Tried this several times while in England, and rating the bottled version reminded me I should dig out my notes on the cask version. It’s just such an incredible beer, warming, fruity, rich, not at all sweet. Reminds me of chocolate milk in its texture and bits of the flavour. I wish we could get this on cask in NZ.

Black colour with a small beige head. Light roasted malty aroma and taste, dry. Medium body with a light dry hoppy finish.

Half pint on tap at the Barrowboy and Banket, great dark mahogany colour. Could smell roasted coffee. The initial taste of toffee and coffee gave way to raisins. Smooth mouthfull, when in London try this beer

On draught at The Lavender, theatre pub in Islington. Peaty blackness with a ruby tinge, small tan head. Loads of spice and burnt pine-cone flavours. A dash of chocolate orange. Coffee grounds in the finish. Perfect winter warmer. Ages since I had the bottled version, This is equally as good.

Pours an opaque black, with a generous bubbly, brown head. Fairly complex, intense roasted malt aroma of rye, burned sugar and oak barrell, with a hint of dark fruit, brandy and vanilla (the last two probably components of the oak barrell aroma). The aroma mellows down a bit after half a pint. Bitterish and somewhat dry roasted malt flavor starts out fairly intense, like bitter dark chocolate, unfortunately turns a bit cardboardy and bland in mid-palate, but more or less picks it up again in the finish. Splendidly full bodied, virtually no carbonation, dryish mouthfeel. Intense, interesting, and quite enjoyable, except for the slight cardboardyness in the flavor -- pity in an otherwise magnificent beer.

Cask half-pint at the Maltings, York. Got this for free as it was the first pull of the day and the beer was ’not cold enough,’ says the keep. Probably true but this is good nonetheless. Pitch black with lasting tan head. Aroma is strong roasted malt, with chocolate sweetness and slight butter. Taste is upfront dark choocolate, fading to roast and coffee with slight dark fruits. Sweet, cereal aftertaste with a slight bitterness. Full, lasting mouthfeel coats the tongue.

Drank this from a keg at the Bishops Arms in Umeå in northern Sweden just as the long winter is rolling in - the perfect moment for a porter! Appearence - dark brown, almost ink black, with a creamy tan head that followed me all the way down to the bottom of the pint glass. Aroma - Wow!!! Huge nose of roasted coffee, chocolate, treacle and butter. Flavour - Masses of raisins, dark fruits overlaid with chocolate, butter and expresso coffee. A slight ash/burnt aftertaste, dry and crisp, with a residual burnt sugar taste. Palate - luxurious and sensual (steady on). Creamy and smooth with low carbonation. Overall - If this is really what they drank in London in the early nineteenth century then I was born a hundred years too late!

UPDATED: JAN 30, 2007 Cask. Lovely rich flavour, chocolate/coffee aroma. Smooth drinking, superb beer.

(cask at Bryden’s, Toronto Nov 29, 2012) Pours dark brown, head off-white with big bubbles and lots of lace left behind. Aroma of milk chocolate, roast malts, nuts, a bit of fruit sweetness. Flavours of roasted, bready malt, light coffee, chocolate, just a little nutty. Finishes mostly dry with a bit of fruit and light hop and roast bitterness. The mouthfeel from the cask is excellent: smooth, rich and creamy, full with light but active carb. This is a good beer in a can and the cask is even better. Worth noting that it wasn’t quite as good two days later, glad I hit its sweet spot.