OHanlons Original Port Stout

Brewed by OHanlons
Style: Stout
Whimple, England

From a 1pt. 9oz. shaped brown bottle with blurb about the stout and a best before date on the label. Made a good appearance, poured an opaque ruby hued black with floaties and a nice foamy pale tan head that settled into a thin creamy lacing, moderate carbonation. Had a roasted malt and port wine nose with a little fruitiness and woodiness. A smooth light bodied mouth feel, good drinkability. Roasty malt taste cut by the sweetness of the port wine, a little oak woodiness, a subtle metallic malt flavor and a semi-sour malty finish. A pleasant stout, very drinkable.

Pours black, big beige head. I can smell the port bigtime. Flavors are mostly dark chocolate, dark fruits, I guess a touch of the port would be where the sweetness comes from, hoppy finish, not bad but nothing to brag about.

Dark brown body with a fizzy tan head that turns into a creamy layer of film, lacing all the time. The aroma is a buttery caramel complemented by chocolate and a subtle fruitiness, presumably from the port wine. There can’t bee too much of the latter in here, considering the modest abv, but it does add some grape flavoring. Add that to the caramel and chocolate along with a splash of coffee and a trace of vanilla, and you’ve got one tasty brew. Dry finish. This is one very good ale.

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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.