Bottle best before Dec ’04 tasted in ’09. Nice nose, smoky whisky notes dominate. Subtle smoky whisky flavour hint of roast malt coffee. Body has thinned with age but the flavour has not.

03 or 04’ bottle thanks to Stew! Pours clear almost black with a slight head. Oaky chestnut, chocolate, barely any whiskey notes... just a slight soily, smokey thing going on. A hint of vanilla and some staleness might be there too. Nice full body with a fairly roasty bitterness which I thought time would have softened out. Flavour carries a lot of chocolate and some wood notes, time has made it a bit stale and meaty too i think. Interesting stuff, but I wouldn’t give it any longer in the cellar

A well aged bottle shared at BJCP tasting a while back. All the porter characteristics with a nice whiskey flourish. While it’s not the spirit of my choice it works fine here but much prefer the bourbon version.

Tasted a bottle purchased in Tauranga poured a dark brown almost black with a light brown head which quickly dissipated. I can smell th bourbon character but overwhelmingly a smell of green apples dominates. The taste is sweet and is like chocolate apples with hints of bourbon with smoky notes on the finish. this medium bodied beer obviously has a few problems but something kept me at it until the glass was gone. I will try this one again, I would like to experience it with out the apple flaw.

Sweet, spirity, peaty nose. Quite lifted and indeed whisky-like. Dense. Concentrated in the palate. I got a weird chocolately pongy note, can’t put my finger on it, but I think this beer is ok.

Dark brown color. Light brown head. Whiskey and dark chocolate are present in the nose, but very subtle. Whisky and dark chocolate are present in the mouth and I thought this was very much like a Baltic porter. Whiskey character has definetely settled.

A hazy deep red beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet with notes of whiskey and malt. The flavor is a somewhat weird combination of whiskey and malty as well as light roasted notes and hints of smoke. I find it unbalanced.

Bottle. Dark red brown colour with a beige head. Light roasted malty, dark fruits, whisky aroma and a sweet light fruity, whisky taste. Medium body with a heavy whisky finish. A bit to much whisky for my taste.

Fantastic! I love Emerson’s-- can they do no wrong? This is really good porter made better with a whiskey polish. Pours dark chestnut brown with a creamy lasting head. Definite whiskey aromas mixed with scorched malts and maybe some coffee (like their pilsner, I could smell this all night). Whiskey flavour on the palate, but not dominating. This is assuredly a smooth porter with whiskey as a side note-- in other words, very well-balanced. Not an "every occasion" drink, but definitely a treat to be savoured.

UPDATED: MAR 31, 2005 As a Scots-Australian who enjoys a dram or two, I approached this with optimism. It’s a bottle-fermented New Zealand porter that has been matured in whisky barrels from the local distillery. It poured the expected ebony colour with a formidable head. Looked great. Fierce nose: burnt chocolate and coffee grains. Like the aftermath of a fire in a grocery. Medium-bodied and as dry as a bushfire. Smoky notes, some peppery alcohol, licorice and toasted malt. But God it’s dry! Like licking an ashtray. (Bottle, 2003)