James Squire Jack of Spades Porter

Brewed by Malt Shovel Brewery (Lion Nathan Co.)
Style: Porter
Sydney, Australia

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Virtually black with just a tinge of brown. No head whatsoever making it a very unattractive beer. Subtle aromas of chocolate and roasted malt. Initially watery mouthfeel, however a nice chocolate flavour develops. This moves into a tinge of bitterness on the mid palate and then a sweet chocolate (perhaps slightly too sweet) and roasted malt finish. The flavours lack depth, but do linger. A decent porter without being exciting

Black colour with a tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee and some cigarette smoke. Taste of coffee, roasted malt. Dry aftertaste with a hint of chocolate. A little watery feeling but still okay.

Black pour, thin head clears quickly, looks like a coke. Aroma of coffee, cocoa, toffee. Similar taste, slightly sweet with biscuit, dark chocolate, coffee, roasted grain. Pretty good

Black Kent, black as the ace of spades..... aroma is actually quite thin (although that could be because I have hayfever). Light coffee, it’s not bad but certainly are better.

Aroma bread and burnt rye (but in a good way); appearance is uniformly black with tinges of brown at the very edges; head is slightly tan, no sign of lace; taste is pleasant, a touch earthy and sweet moving on to a mildly bitter and smokey palate, but some roasted malty sweetness hangs around the longest. Overall, a pretty nice porter, not overpowering, and not boring either (but only just).

There’s a disappointingly brief head on this, but the aroma is like a having a caramel crown with an espresso - chocolate, caramel and loads of biscuit and coffee. There’s more of that biscuit flavour in the mouth with some chocolate and coffee in the middle of the tongue and a little hops on the sides. The only knock on this beer is that the palate is a little thin.

On tap at the Portland Brewhouse. Served a mahogany color with a good tan head that fades slowly to nice lacing. Aroma of roasted malt, some chocolate with a bit of coffee and a trace. Tatse of roasted malt, dark chocolate with a bit of coffee. Nice bitterness and a dry finish. Medium body, smooth and quite creamy. Nice balance. Very drinkable beer. Nice take on the style.

UPDATED: AUG 10, 2012 It MUST have been a delicious porter, but this was in Cairns, where most pubs serve lousy beer, so freezin’ cold that you do not have to feel the flavor. They did the same with this porter. A glass out of the freezer. Beautiful porter, with a great colour and a subtle aroma of roasted malts and a touch of chocolate. The flavour, whatever I could taste from behind the nothingness of the amost freezing beer, was chocolaty, toasty and fruity. I will try a proper serving one day, and renew my rating. I’m sure it must have been a great beer.

Poured a solid deep black with a rapidly dissipating beige head. Picked up some aromas of licorice and spice on the nose. The taste is dominated by roast malts, with some subdued dark chocolate notes coming through. There’s some crisp hop bitterness at the end to balance things out. Exceeded my expectations. I’m no expert on porter, but liked this one.

Quite a nice dark beer. Nice taste and crispy. I have not tried it on tape though. Th.