Yo-Ho Tokyo Black Porter

Brewed by Yo-Ho Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Nagano, Japan

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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35 cL can. Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Aroma is dark roasted malty and dense chocolate. Dark malty, roasted and slight breadish flavoured. Bitter and dark malty finish. Ends dry roasted malty.

Pours a thick brown with dissipating tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, hint of coffee. Similar taste, some dark fruit notes. Smooth malty/chocolaty finish with a lingering acidity. Solid take on the porter all the way from Japan. Cool can as well. Kanpai!

Pours a lacing tan head with a dark brown, almost black body. Aromas of roasted malt, some vegetal notes, and dark sweetness. Flavors of roasted malt and molasses. Smooth, clean finish.

Can courtesy of butters on 01/15/2011 at the 13th Richmond Gathering. Dark black body with a small creamy off-white head. Sweet roast and chocolate aroma. Sweet chocolate, roast and light smoke flavor. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

Can from a Lawson convenience store in Tokyo. Pours nicely; pitch black with smooth head. Strong black coffee and a touch of mineral water in the nose. A little milkier and sweeter in the mouth with some extra roast in the finish. Distinct ashey dark malt character not far from an Irish stout. Low sweetness and mild lasting bitterness. Medium carbonation and smooth mouthfeel. Tasty, readily available porter.

Pours coffee black, maybe a shade lighter. Head is soapy, beige and pretty big but fades quickly. The aroma is mostly cocoa with touches of mocha, roast and a mild twang of acidity. Taste is sweet with more simple chocolate flavor and finishes with a fairly assertive coffee/roast bitterness. The coffee flavor is a bit stale. The acidity comes through a bit in the taste, as well. Mouthfeel is somewhat creamy, but it could use more body. It’s a decent porter but nothing special and certainly not worth the price, at least here in the US.

Can. Quality pour you’d expect -- richly black, with a substantial head. The aroma is somewhat off-putting, with a sourly sweet licorice essence. The beer drinks with a bit more restraint, the bitter chocolate bite being not quite as pronounced, and actually quite drinkable. (#4138, 6/12/2011)

Coffee black body with a true, lustrous, poofy mocha head. Coffee grain roasty nose meets melanoidin and spicy hops. This complexity carries over to the body. Pleasant coffee roast encircled by melanoidin, a depth of salted caramel, and some deep malt ball as well as a decidedly, hard-to-pin-down, Japanese character. There is a lot going on in this brew and the experience develops nicely.

Can at Black Squirrel. Black (not a surprise, I guess). Tan head. Aroma of pumpernickel bread and black pepper. Taste is coffee grounds. Medium body. A proper porter.

350ml can. Poured a dark brown, almost black color with off-white head. Aroma is roasted malts, caramel, coffee notes. Flavor is roasted malts, caramel, good.