OHanlons Original Port Stout

Very dark brown color. Chocolate and coffee in the aroma. Can’t taste much port, but I can taste coffee, caramel, chocolate and grapes. Firm bodied for an English beer. Well done!

A dark chocolate brown beer with ruby red tints and a frothy white head. A deep toasted malt nose with a sweet fruity aroma. The taste is again of toasted malt and a bitter-sweetness associated with stouts. There is a slight fruity flavour that does give the beer a rounded finish. (Bottle - Morrisons).

Bottle. Dark brown with medium head. Malty with hints of sherry, port and maybe also a bit of citrus. Thin palate and not enough "balls".

These beer-plus-spirit blends sound great in theory but the whole usually turns out to be less than the sum of the parts. So it is with this blend of ruby port and stout. I’d be intrigued to know how much port there is in a stout with an abv of 4.8%. Given that ports weigh in at around 18-20%, the answer would surely be ’Not a lot’. Aside from the aroma, I struggled to pick the port in what seemed to be a very dry and astringent stout. Ah well. In the glass, this was a dense teak with an immense ’Aero’ head - one of the most striking and unusual that I can recall. The head was riddled with big holes like a Swiss cheese. A structure like that is not designed to last and it duly collapsed into a 0.5cm mat that hung around well. Rich aroma of treacle, grape juice, cocoa powder, violets and orange peel. Surprisingly floral for a stout. The mouthfeel is the first disappointment - it’s medium bodied at best, but feels thin and insubstantial. The flavour is the second. I wouldn’t pick the port if I didn’t know it was in there. The vinous aroma doesn’t transmit to the flavour. There’s a brief burst of juicy dark fruits - raisins and figs - but they’re swiftly drowned out by the screech of burning tyres. The mid-palate is all harsh burnt rubber. It’s veeeery dry in the swallow. Almost unpleasantly so. As the first beer of the night, this was a challenge, I suspect I would enjoy it a lot more with a couple of something else inside me to take the edge off this. In summary: loved the concept, didn’t enjoy the execution. (500ml bottle, IBS Perth, bb 23/3/06)

Bottled:
Aroma is light fruity, notes of citrus and sherry. Deep black color. Light sourly flavor, much carbonation. Light fruity notes, citrus. Dry bitter finish. VEry unique beer.

Cask Stillage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham 23/03/2002 Dark coloured stout which was slightly rich on the palate. Some bitterness in a roast malt finish.

Bottled. Fruity winlike aroma with blackcurrant and a hint of chocolat. Ruby color, light brown irregular head, fair lace. Light sweet, light bitter to bitter in the finish, coffee. Sandy dry and bit watery in the finish.

Bottle of O’Hanlon’s The Original Ruby Stout. Mine has a "best by date". Its printed as 05/31/2005. Today, the day I’m drinking it, is 02/05/2006. Not good perhaps? We’ll see. Pours a deep dark color with a light creamy head of good volume. Smells like dry red wine and malty stout. Still pretty good. Has distinct dry red wine tastes but is predominantely stout. For what they are shooting for, I’d say they aren’t far off the mark. Perhaps this should be classified as a Dry Stout though. Just a thought. Bang for the buck of stuff in the same store, when I’ve tried them all, I’d choose a Young’s Dbl Choc over this.