Porter - HaandBryggeriet

Ljunkan

Sweden

4.13/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bought a bottle @ Vinmonopolet when visiting Oslo.

Pours a darkbrown/almost black color with a nice brownish head.

The smell is of dark chocolate, burnt notes, roasted malt and coffee. Almost imperial stoutish smell, very nice!

The taste is malty with notes of burnt/roasted malt, coffee and dark chocolate, slightly smokey. Medium bitterness.

Mouthfeel is quite filling, round and smooth. The liquid is a bit thin.

A highly drinkable and well made porter!

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2008 17:35:21 | More by Ljunkan

DmanGTR

New York

4/5  rDev +5.8%

01-29-2013 04:34:26 | More by DmanGTR

Mebuzzard

Colorado

3.5/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A Norse porter, eh? Perhaps a style on its own, b/c this one has a bit of twang to it.

Pours a dark brown/ruby/black with huge foaming head that looks like a chocolate malt foam.

Aroma of coffee, black licorice, dark plum and chocolate. coffee stands out the most

The flavor is a bit odd. Coffee and milk chocolate are the key factors. It's a bit sweet, but more like a spoiled sweet. It has some tartness, I think, to it. Smooth, but the bubbles/head up front betray this. I thought it would have been more tingly, but it's pretty smooth. Plum skin seems to be the tannin.
Overall a nice drinkable porter, even if it is a bit odd. Not bad at all

Serving type: bottle

12-02-2012 05:12:41 | More by Mebuzzard

mlazzaro

Massachusetts

3.08/5  rDev -18.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Norse porter- My 500ml bottle is different than the one in the picture. BA redirected me to this porter.

Immediately comes off as over-carbonated. A gentle pour resulted in 90% head. The head does look great, and holds like a champ: pillowy, tiny bubbles, and tan colored. The body is opaque and black.

Smell of coffee and chocolate malt. Some sweet smell in there. Almost comes off as a charcoal or ashy aroma.

Body is surprisingly thin, which may explain the over carbonation. It does leave a thick residue on the tongue, but high carbonation and thin mouthfeel are very strange on a porter. The carbonation is sharper than soda on the tongue. Yeast flavor is fruity, mixed with a slightly tart kick. And overall its very boozy. I found it much better after letting it sit for an hour or so. The carbonation and acidity go down, and it became substantially more drinkable.

I straight up don't like it. I love porters, and I love this brewery. but this beer…. Yikes. This tastes like it went south in the bottle with some lactic acid producing bacteria.

Serving type: bottle

11-09-2012 00:47:25 | More by mlazzaro

tripledbrew

Kentucky

3.5/5  rDev -7.4%

11-07-2012 02:31:49 | More by tripledbrew

sjc483

Indiana

4.25/5  rDev +12.4%

10-10-2012 19:37:58 | More by sjc483

CaptDavyJones

New York

3.75/5  rDev -0.8%

09-17-2012 01:09:45 | More by CaptDavyJones

DARIVA

Netherlands

3.6/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A: This is a black colored beer with minimal head.

S: This beer is sweet and smells of coffee and chocolate.

T: This beer is slightly sweet and a little on the weak side.

M: This is what is weak and has little carbonation.

O: Good drinkable and a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Serving type: bottle

08-22-2012 17:42:55 | More by DARIVA

LiquidAmber

Washington

3.4/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Review from 5/2010 notes. Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a very dark brown with a tan head with good retention. Aroma of dried fruit, toasted malt. Thin porter flavor up front with usual dark malts, hint of wood, dark fruit. Dry middle and dry, slightly sour finish. Malts perk up a bit in the middle when warmed up, but still tastes watered down. Dry finish seems more like an Irish porter than an American one. Very flat, watery finish. No bad flavor notes, but nothing outstanding either. At $10 a bottle, not going here again. Like another reviewer, my bottle was labelled "Norse Porter" and had an ABV of 6.5.

Serving type: bottle

08-03-2012 20:49:41 | More by LiquidAmber

superspak

Michigan

3.8/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

500 ml bottle into pint glass, batch 158, bottled 5/8/2008. Pours a nearly pitch black color with a small 1 finger dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Some slight spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas of big raisin, plum, chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, biscuit, wood, herbal, and a touch of smoke. Nice and pleasant aromas; with good strength and balance. Taste of chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, raisin, licorice, biscuit, herbal, coffee, and slight smoke. Slight roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, coffee, biscuit, licorice, and raisin on the finish for a good bit. Very nicely balanced flavors, with a nice big malt backbone that is not cloying. Light-medium carbonation and medium bodied; with a very nice creamy and slightly slick mouthfeel. No alcohol noticed at all as expected. Overall this is a very nice and pleasant porter. Nicely balanced and robust flavor profile; and very smooth. Really enjoyable stuff.

Serving type: bottle

05-10-2012 05:04:40 | More by superspak

Arborescence

Finland

4.1/5  rDev +8.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance: Pitch Black, pours a chocolate coloured head with hints of sediment.

Aroma: Very rich malty chocolate and coffee. Strong roasted aromas with a hint of smoke. Some alcohol.

Taste: Surprisingly strong alcohol taste, although it's not such a strong porter. Roasted malt and dark chocolate, like a strong espresso; some bitterness too.

Mouthfeel: Soupy, full bodied.

Overall: I feel like this could be a great porter, but somehow the alcohol comes through too strong, and it feels like they've tried to pack a little bit too much into this beer. Still, it's a great porter and certainly differs from the standard. One point worth noting: when I opened the bottle (cool room temperature), I got a huge burst of foam and beer coming out. I lost a portion of the bottle due to this, but more importantly this suggests that the post-fermentation has gone a bit wrong. That may be responsible for the strong alcohol taste as well -- indeed, it's possible that there's more alcohol here than stated.

Another point: my bottle was bought from the US, imported by 'Shelton Brothers'. It's labelled as 'Norse Porter', but BeerAdvocate tells me that this is an alias for HaandBryggeriet's porter. That's probably the case, but there's another deviation: BeerAdvocate reports the ABV as 6.0%, but my bottle says 6.5%. So clearly there's something strange going on here...

Serving type: bottle

04-23-2012 23:08:27 | More by Arborescence

disemgrowler

Rhode Island

3/5  rDev -20.6%

03-01-2012 21:15:39 | More by disemgrowler

LukeONeill

3.5/5  rDev -7.4%

02-27-2012 05:14:57 | More by LukeONeill

LJWalker

Alabama

3.5/5  rDev -7.4%

02-06-2012 19:05:46 | More by LJWalker

kevgod

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev +5.8%

01-07-2012 18:04:45 | More by kevgod

jophish17

Georgia

2.5/5  rDev -33.9%

12-24-2011 08:27:56 | More by jophish17

Fenrisulven

Norway

4.5/5  rDev +19%

12-22-2011 14:24:39 | More by Fenrisulven

JAHMUR

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +5.8%

11-29-2011 03:51:45 | More by JAHMUR

jmdrpi

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +5.8%

11-18-2011 04:45:40 | More by jmdrpi

bruachan

Rhode Island

4.22/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

certainly foamaliscious. daaark

airy, smokey, soy saucey, gritty, raisiny. a touch of caramel that doesn't seem to show in the flavor profle

a love quaffable porters! not a thick sludge, by any means. short on strongly roasted flavors and long on soy sauce and strong raisin flavors. detectable bitterness. savory, in a way.

Serving type: bottle

07-25-2011 23:45:07 | More by bruachan

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

3.13/5  rDev -17.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

500ml bottle poured into tulip 10/7/11

A looks like a glass of cola right down to the massive noisy Pepsi like head that leaves no lace

S some sour apple with some milk chocolate, mild smoke and faint booze

T more milk chocolate with a little raisin, no sour apple and even less smoke

M turns to foam in your mouth, almost need to flatten it by swirling before it's suitable to enter you mouth

O a big disappointment after Odins Tipple let me tell ya, I'm hoping its a bad bottle because this is shit compared to Dark Force or the above mentioned

perhaps I still have some of the Peated Black Hole in my mouth but this wasn't anywhere near as good as the other offerings I've had from these boys

Serving type: bottle

07-11-2011 01:04:52 | More by wordemupg

GRG1313

California

2.3/5  rDev -39.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Batch 79 (Brewed June '07; Best before June '10) Tasted and reviewed same date - March 18, 2011 - past bottle best date.

Another of the Park Lane, Lancaster, Calif. purchases - bought off shelf 4 years old and tasted/reviewed date of purchase.

Pours black with a thick and firm dark khaki head that's long lasting; nice looking.

Nose is very assertive plumed sweet black coffee; sweet dark chocolate; molasses and burnt honey.

Mouthfeel is a bit thin and watery without character.

Flavors are a bit "old" and likely past prime (per bottle date). Flavors are a bit like citric coffee and very light chocolate milk - not good but not bad. Only strength is in the finish where there is a long and nice light acidic coffee character. Likely not one to drink again and past its prime.

This is an example that not all porters will improve with age and clearly a brew from 2007 likely should not be cellared for 4 years.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2011 05:56:26 | More by GRG1313

woemad

Washington

2.83/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

1pt.9oz. bottle purchased at Enoteca in Post Falls, Idaho, for $8.99 a couple of months ago. "Batch 158," according to the label, which also states it was brewed on "08.05.08." and is best before "08.05.10." Whether the 8 means August 5th or May 8th, this is officially beyond the best by date. Kinda wished I'd noticed it before now. Incidentally, the label also states this is a "Dark Porter." Now I have friends in Norway, and have tremendous respect for their nation's ingenuity, but does this mean the Norwegians have created a new variety of beer called a light porter?

Pours a dark, dense color that could be either brown or black. Holding it up to the light makes no difference except for an almost imperceptible rubyish tinge to the extremities of the beer. 1/3 of an inch of tan foam was initially at the top of this beer, but it soon receded to a foam ring.

This beer smells of dark fruit, molasses and bourbon. The latter comes as a surprise given that the label only claims an abv percentage of 6.5. Was this aged in whiskey casks? There's certainly no mention of it on the label, and that's the kind of thing that is normally trumpeted to the skies.

Very acidic tasting beer. The dark fruit and molasses scents don't translate very well to the taste. Weird, and not pleasantly so.

Surprisingly watery body and dry, prickly mouthfeel for a porter, "Dark" or otherwise.

Not too impressed with this. While it is entirely possible this beer suffers due to its age, the reviews of fresher bottles don't seem too great, either. I think I'll pass this up in the future.

Serving type: bottle

02-04-2011 20:51:12 | More by woemad

Fatehunter

Oregon

3.58/5  rDev -5.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Norse Porter ABV 6.5
Batch 208

A - Black. HUGE tan head. It may have been my glass... but no other beer poured into it has done that.

S - Dry hay smell, roasted malt.

T - Burnt malt dominates the beginning and middle, ends with a bitter aftertaste. A solid taste, though not complex.

M - Moderate body, medium to high level of carbonation.

D - Good overall, but nothing too special.

Serving type: bottle

01-11-2011 01:37:38 | More by Fatehunter

TMoney2591

Illinois

4.35/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Served in a shaker pint glass at Durty Nellie's.

Batch 208. It may not have been on-tap (is it ever?), but I'll take it from the bottle here, too. It pours a lovely black-brown topped by a steady finger of light tan foam. The nose comprises roasted malts, juniper, clove, nutmeg, and a light bit o' chocolate. The taste is very similar, with some nice additions of coffee and cola. The body is on the thicker side, with a light moderate carbonation and a lightly syrupy feel. Overall, a very nice porter, another success from the Hand.

Serving type: bottle

10-22-2010 15:23:09 | More by TMoney2591