Sea Dog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter

Brewed by Sea Dog Brewing (Shipyard Brewing Co.)
Style: Porter
Topsham, Maine USA

real good porter. nice nutty flavor to it. hazelnuts are ever so slight. very good beer

Black, offwhite head. Chocolate and cocoa aroma with some milky notes. Bitter cocoa flavor at first, more malts then showing, milky and with some chocolate. Some bitterness in the finish.

We were disappointed with this offering after getting some pretty decent beers from Sea Dog. Where they excel in fruit beers, dark beers are apparently not their forte. This porter pours a black color with a large, creamy light-brown head. Virtually no lacing behind a mostly diminishing head. Aroma is harsh with roasted and burnt malt notes with a hint of hazelnut. Initial taste is lightly sweet and takes a turn to bitter at the finish with an average duration. Medium on the mouth, it has a creamy texture and soft carbonation. Reviewed on September 17th, 2006.

12 oz bottle, via SoLan. Pours a clear very dark brown body under a one finger fizzy beige head that faded to a patchy film. Aroma is a mix of hazelnut extract, chocolate malt, light roast, and some vanilla. Flavor is dominated by the very "extract" tasting hazelnut. Some coffee, roast, and toasted malt rounds out the finish. Mouthfeel is thinnish and somewhat silky in texture with a little cloying sweetness emerging on the finish. Moderate fizzy forced carbonation. Another cheaply flavored Porter. Hazelnut beers really seem to be a hit or miss with me. I quite like Rogue’s offering but this wasn’t up to that same quality.

Dark brown pour with red highlights. The head is creamy, rocky, dense and steadfast, looks great. The nose is quite foreboding, aromas of hazelnuts, roasted malts, nuts, chocolate in moderation and vanilla coffee. Problematic though, as the hops present mute the already subtle aromas making them very difficult to identify. Flavor is much more pleasing, more of the same notes abound in a distinct pattern of unleashing components. Additions include macadamia nuts and sweet sugars. Finishes somewhat abrupt. Palate is creamy smooth and delicate. A pretty tasty effort from a brewery I usually find laughable.

Pours a dark dark brown with a thick, fluffy, stable tan head. Smells of roasted malts, and light caramel, but sort of had a wierd metallic smell to it as well that took away from it a bit. Taste was pretty good though. Very roasty, with some burnt chocolate, caramel, wood, and smoky malts. Not a bad porter at all, and pretty impressive from the brewery. Pretty easy drinking, could use a little more body as its kind of light but i’d drink it again.

I absolutely did not expect anything from this beer considering the few cents I paid for it and thinking it was a contract brew for Trader Joe’s. I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually quite drinkable. Nice hazelnut aroma and taste which dominated throughout. Much more than I assumed this caliber of beer to possess. Body and mouthfeel were uninspiring, but, again, I’m not expecting too much for such an economical beer. Just enough malt presence to assert itself, although still a bit weak, and the choice of hops I did not care for as they seemed not work against the hazelnut character. Not bad and a bit uninspiring, but I’d say if you happen by a Trader Joe’s give it a try as it’s hazelnut presence is quite a bit more dominant than others I’ve tried.

bottle: the aroma is very hazelnut, it has a chocolate colour with a thick off white head that lingers. taste starts a liltle bitter but finishes nutty and very smooth. also a very happy palate on this one