Zywiec Porter

Brewed by Bracki Browar Zamkowy (Zywiec Group/Heineken)
Style: Baltic Porter
Cieszyn, Poland

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

33 cL bottle, thanks to Justyna for bringing me this. Pours dark brown with a little tan head. Dark roasted and mild chocolate aroma. Flavour is smooth chocolate and with a roasted malt note. Ends with a solid bitterness, slight burning note and a smooth chocolate note on top. Very drinkable baltic porter

Bottle.[Tasting session @ yespr, thanks for a great evening Jesper] Average beige creamy head that mostly diminished. Fair display of lacework. Dark mahogany colour. Aroma of chocolate, dried fruit, light toasted malt. Over the palate comes burned malt, light coffee. Medium to full bodied with a soft carbonation and light dry and thick texture. Moderated sweet with good counter bitter flavour. Bitter burned and lingering malty finish.

Dark color with nice tan head. Roasted molasses, coffee, licorice, dark fruit, and alcohol. Alcohol figures in the taste as well. Finishes dryer than expected.

Pours a near black colour with a small, but sturdy tan head. The aroma is strait forward, with plenty of nuts, caramel, vanilla and dried fruits. The flavour is nice mid-palate, but an atringent bitterness, like that of baker’s cocoa and aluminum. It is possible I may be drinking an infected bottle, because the finish is bitter like penicilin. Flavours of rich caramel, dark fruits and roasted malt are trampled by an offensive, harshly bitter finish. The mouthfeel is velvety smooth and perfectly carbonated, making it quite drinkable despite the overly bitter finish and the booze is well hidden. I think I need to try this one again.

UPDATED: FEB 2, 2008 This has a dark brown color with a thick tan head that thined out over time and left some nice laceing along the sides of the glass. As i smelt it the aroma bombarded my nose with an intence nuttyness followed by roasted coffee and caramel malt. Even thogh the coffee was pleasing to the nose the nuts overwelmed the smell. As i took a sip the beer had a good initial hop bitterness with a coffee and chocolate coating on the sides of my tounge and mouth. The finish was nice and creamy and it resembled a candy bar.

Pours fairly thick dark brown with a finger of tan head. Aroma of sweet caramel, slight roastiness, pilsner malts, slight sour yeastiness, toffee, plums. Flavor is bready with bitter burnt malts and a nice bit of dark fruit as it warms. Palate is relatively thick and sticky. I do taste a bit of metal in the flavor, but not enough to ruin the experience for me.

500mL bottle, gift from my Polish AuPair. Pours dark with tan head. aroma is slightly sweet with toffee and roasted malt. mouthful is full of bitter sweet goodness. has nice robust roasted malt with cocoa and a bitter finnish. Very nice robust porter

Firstly Rated: 25 November 2006. 500ml bottle brown but had this many times on tap at "Piwiarnia Żywiecka" - Brewery’s Pub in Żywiec town. On tap version is better, more fresh, more drinkeable and more fruity with better pronounced flavour and aroma. Appearance: Head is nice, thick, frothy, medium, fudge-brown, with decent lacing. Body almost black, deep dark red- brown in hue where light is able to come through it. Body is practically full and the wort percentage content is 22% what is the highest ammount of wort of all Polish beer making it really thick with the impression that you can bite it rather than drink it. Carbonation visually is soft to medium. Aroma: dark bread, Munich malt, burned grains (being also available for degustation in the brewery),very nice ’porter’ aroma, not ofensive, alcohol as for its 9,5 % is felt but in a very positive and pleasant way, being very well balanced with the strong woody-nutty accents, with the addition of decent cherries and some accents of prune or even plum in tap version. The taste is full and fulfilling all your needs. So bready that It seems you can bite it. Good quality mountain water base, first smooth then some alcohol warmth on palate and at the end there comes the bitterness that results from roastiness and gentle aromatic hoppy nose. The best beer in Poland according to me and according to Rate Beer’s list of the best beer by country (excluding Meads). Best Baltic Porter I’ve had so far. The most commonly available porter so far in Poland.