Rock Art Midnight Madness Smoked Porter

Pours a deep cola brown with a short-lived beige head. Roasty dark malts and burnt coffee in the aroma. Sadly, no tendrils of smoke to rise to greet your nostrils. Nutty, chocolatey, roasty, but no real smokiness per se in the flavors. Burnt grains and burnt coffee, but no smoldering lingering smoke. Still, once I get past the lack of smokiness that I desire, it’s a pretty tasty porter. Just not smoked.

bottle poured into a snifter has a dark red black color and a thin tan head. aroma has lightly smoked sweet malt, cocoa, and cola. mouth feel is fizzy with a thin body. flavor is somewhat sweet, chocolate malt, almost undetectable smoke, drying, and finishes thin with light bitterness. lots of carbonation just does not help the thinness. definitely a gateway beer.

12 oz bottle from a 12 pack sampler. Pours a murky muddy chocolate brown with light brown edges, lots of clinging carbonation and a small off white head. Aroma of chocolate malts, slight must or perhaps that is Rock Arts version of smoke. Thin bodied with lots of bubbly harsh carbonation. Flavor of watered down chocolate syrup, perhaps a touch of wet smoke, slight caramel and some artifiical sweetner finishes this one off. Well this one wasn’t great, not even good, pretty much what I have come to expect from Rock Art.

Sampled at the Savor DC event. Pours a watery, opaque black with a wispy white head. Aroma is smoked and peaty. Flavor is more subtle than the aroma with toasted, chewy grains noticeable and just a touch of smoke on the tongue. Lasting smoke flavor but also a touch watery on the palate. The smoke flavor really lingered in the glass a while too.

(Savor, 12z bottle) Beige head atop hazy dark brown body. Aroma is medium sweet, caramel, chocolate, some smoke. Taste is medium sweet, caramel, roast, some smoke, chocolate. Light-medium body, low carbonation.