Okocim Porter

Carlsberg Polska
Brewed at Okocim (Carlsberg Polska)
Style: Baltic Porter
Warszawa, Poland

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

Purs dark brown with a big bubbly tan head that fades rather quickly. Smells sweet and malty, caramel and a little licorice, a burnt sugar, almost soda-pop aroma. Taste is initially heavy in alcohol, but after a couple sips chocolate emerges and a fruity, cherry brandy taste lingers on the palate. The body is not heavy but is extremely smooth and lush. Would rate higher if the alcohol didn’t obstruct the flavor.

Pours a dark brown with a tan head. Has hints of caramel, dark fruits, some roasted flavor, and nuts. Medium bodied finished very sweet and boozy.

16.9oz bottle, no date. Clear mahogany with a two finger light beige head, good retention. Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, sweet caramel, and some dark fruits. A hint of wintergreen tops off the nose along with some alcohol. As nice as the aroma was, I had to search for everything in there (moreso than usual) as the aroma was much fainter than I’d have liked. Flavor is quite sweet despite the dry roasted malt character ever present in the background. Flavor is much more fruity than the aroma led on. It seems as though they just dumped in some sugar in after fermentation to sweeten it up or something. Almost cloying, but not quite. I can still pick out some caramel and dark fruits. Dry char ashy finish with low bitterness. The alcohol feels like it’s burning a hole in my gut--a little hot in the belly. Medium full body with light carbonation. As Sledge said, it’s like a can of fruit cocktail--unfortunately drinking the syrup and all. Still not too bad of a beer, just a bit of a disappointment.

Sweeter and thicker than I’m used to for a porter, my first baltic porter. A sweet smelling, sugary malty beer. Not very roasty, but with a sticky sweet caramel presence. Body is incredibly creamy and smooth. However, there is something unpleasant in the finish. Something bitter, perhaps a bit astringent, a little boozy. Thats my only real complaint about this, but it does bring it down.

Ruby + dark brown in colour with somewhat fizzy carbonation. Aromas of stewed fruit, roasted malts, dark toffee, magic marker, and tar. Very malty sweet, with more stewed friuit, caramel and dark chocolate notes. Heavy on the mouth and quite boozy. Unbalanced in the sweet malt department to be sure.

Aroma: plum, mocha malt, light carbon. Appearance: dark with ruby highlights, tan head that flattens quickly sheet lacing. Flavour: nutty, mocha, plum and sweet caramel malt. Palate: medium mouthfeel, finely carbonated finishes carbon and hop bitterness. I thought this was lovely.

500ml bottle, thanks to SoLan. The nose has a really nice chewy caramel chocolate note, sweet and sticky is what it seems like from the smell. Low hop presence, thankfully, but also low roast - not a detriment, but rather the nose focuses on the sticky chocolate syrup smell more than any roast. Quite good smell to this one. Flavorwise it has light roast up front becoming more apparent in a coarse and drying finish. More flavors of chocolate, some liquer notes, some chewy malts. Very well done, but the body may be a little light, but overall I have very few complaints, and I’m surprised by some of the poor rartings. Seems to have the same nice sweetness and malt-forwardness found in doppelbock, which is probably why I like it so much. The boozy note in the lingering, sticky aftertaste makes it all work.

Pours dark brown with a thick tan head. Faint nose of sweet malt and licorice and smoke. Nice lacing on the glass. The flavor is sweet, raisins, licorice. Nice on the palate, but something of a medicinal finish. I have to note my remarks thouigh that this is the only example I’ve tried of a Baltic Porter.