Ølfabrikken Winter Porter

(on bottle) Pitch black, no head. Slightly tart, bramble and coffeebeans. The mouth is perky and at the same time, slowly bobbly. So for the taste itself it´s both dry and sweet, so complex drinking it, it makes me want red meats and heavy sauces. Some of the 11% are gone by now, but the coffeebeans just lingers on and on.

This bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a medium sized head of foamy fine to medium sized light brown colored bubbles that were and left behind a opaque no visible carbonation dark brown colored body and a fair lacing. The mild aroma was dark malt. The flavor contained notes of vinous dark malt and mildly medicinal. A decent one that I would consider buying again.

In an effort to knock out the rest of my backlog, my ratings will be fairly generic and sparse. If the beer had anything special to offer, it will be noted following this disclaimer. The number ratings above are accurate based on my tasting notes. Following the elimination of my backlog, all beers will be entered in real time and will be more useful. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dark brown with dark roasted malts, coffee and chocolate. Not sure what makes this a winter porter versus a normal porter, but it is a great porter during any season.

Dark brown with a small brown head. Coffee and chocolate tones. Roasted, bitter and coffee. Full body with a bitter finish.

Olfabrikken is a small yet very skilled craft brewery out of Roskilde, Denmark. Along with a handful of other craft breweries, they are brewing life into a once dull, lifeless beer scene that consisted of clear, fizzy, golden lagers of lackluster value. Much like the craft brewing rise and revolution of the mid 70s, Olfabrikken has risen up against mass-market sameness and the quashing of originality to present me with one of their weapons-in-arms, the Winter Porter, a porter brewed with honey. I was less than impressed with the Samuel Adams Honey Porter, so I hope she fairs better.

She poured rich browns and blacks with a low-hanging haze of fog while lacy bubbles decorate the sides of my glass. Gentle waves of warm, cooked honeycomb drift upon a sea of maple syrup sprinkled with brown spices and soothing alcohol warmth. The Olfabrikken Winter Porter is 11% ABV so that is not too surprising. Her nose is delightfully seductive, and I dilly-dally not as I delve deep into her sweet depths. Warm honey and essence of porter are my very first impressions. To break it down, an undercurrent of dry dark chocolates carries atop dry, bitter roasted coffee with burnt sugar crystals coming in the finish. She starts off honeycomb suckling sweet, leading into burgeoning warmth in my chest and finishing with brown spices in my breath. Her sweet honey character is definitely predominant, but rich dry dark chocolates and roasted coffee beans act as a stabilizing ballast. An intriguing interplay of sweet and roasty. Just when I think she is too cloying, her partners in crime appear to save the day. As we part ways, my only nick-pick is I would have enjoyed a bit more influential porter character.

Not bad for what I believe is my first foray into Olfabrikken territory. Ironically enough, I am more familiar with their brothers-in-arms, Mikkeller. That being said, I enjoyed their Winter Porter, even though she was a tad on the sweet side. I would still recommend the Winter Porter brewed with honey for anyone looking for an enjoyably different quaffing experience.

Bottle: Pours an oily opaque black with a few tan bubbles, but mostly still. Has a sweet dark caramel and honey nose with some hints of fruity tartness and black cherries. Starts with good fullness and sticky malty sweetness which could use some carbonation to lighten up on the palate. Has notes of dark chocolate covered cherries and raisins before a warming, slightly acidic finish. Would be better without the tartness as well, but still an interesting brew.

2008 vintage bottle and served in no-nik pint glass: Mahogany hued with a small but lasting foamy tan head and good lace. The aroma has notes of plums and fig, chocolate, ashy charred malt, tobacco, and noticeable sour lactic vapours. The taste starts with a medicinal rubbing alcohol flavor wrapped around an oxidized malty profile with acidic fruity tones. Sort of like a Flemish Sour meets a Baltic Porter that got turned into an Eisbock. Boozy throughout and intensely papery. At first I thought this bottle to be much older than it was but then looking at it closer before taking out the garbage I discovered it was only a 2008, so that is an even worse impression than before.... A complete disaster. High hopes turned into utter disappointment.

(sample from irishboy)brown body with a brown head.heavily infected funky smell and taste.drain pour imho.