Man Full Of Trouble Porter - Dock Street Brewery & Restaurant

tobelerone

New Jersey

2.9/5  rDev -22.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

On tap at the brewpub. Black with a subtle brownish hue. Tan head that sinks quickly; lacing is spotty at best.

Typical porter aromas of roastiness, coffee, and bitter chocolate. Taste seems a little out of whack to me and there's an odd sour note that doesn't seem like it should be there. The coffee and roastiness are pretty subtle and the overall flavor falls a bit short. There's a faint bitter hoppiness in the aftertaste and only a hint of sweetness. Dry finish.

Somewhat thin mouthfeel with spritzy carbonation that felt a touch too prickly for me.

Something seemed off with this one; the odd sourness I encountered wasn't mentioned by any other reviewer. Will have to try this again sometime and perhaps, re-review.

Serving type: on-tap

02-29-2012 05:22:43 | More by tobelerone

ilkelma

Pennsylvania

3.35/5  rDev -10.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A: Arrived at the table in a pint glass with about a finger of dark head. Very dark color almost stout-like.

S: Rich roasted smell, hints of coffee.

T: Very malty and sweet with an almost toasted character to balance the sweetness. About average for a porter. The sweetness

M: Fairly heavy on the palate but on the lighter end of the porter's I've had. (My apologies for the brevity here, mouthfeel I'm still working on)

O: Good example of an American Porter. Not much character of its own however. It does have a nicely roasted flavor I expect more of a good coffee stout than a porter but all in all simply a good standby porter at the local watering hole.

Comments: I've had this twice now and the first one was as reviewed and my dad agreed with that. I'm not sure if it was the Spanish Fly I had before it but the second one's flavor was a bit off, kind of cough syrup-esque. Possibly some inconsistency to be had in this beer?

Serving type: on-tap

10-28-2012 02:48:00 | More by ilkelma

stakem

Pennsylvania

3.7/5  rDev -0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Draft offering at the source. The brew appears dark brown in color with an off-white cap. Some string lace to spotty patches stick to the glass as the cap fades. When held to the light, the brew looks a lighter brown with red highlights.

The aroma includes some mild roasty grain coming across like chocolate with some fruity alcohol esters. More sniffs dont really reveal any more depth beyond that. No hop inclusion to be found but I assume that character is blended into the fruity esters of the alcohol.

The flavor upfront is like dark fruit akin to raisin, plum, fig, more fruity alcohol esters that faintly blend into chocolate grainy roast character and the faintest amount of coffee. While not a bad flavor and nothing is out of place, id rather have more focus on roast here instead of all dark fruits.

This is a medium to lighter bodied brew with a light level of carbonation. Pretty easy drinking without flaw. Just not the flavor profile i look for in a porter that I would want to drink again. However, for what it is, I would not turn this down if offered to me either.

Serving type: on-tap

12-06-2012 15:28:40 | More by stakem

onix1agr

Pennsylvania

3.73/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Gotta growler of this at whole foods, served in a Saint Helena Catholic Church (Blue Bell, PA) glass.

Full Man, A brown porter, kinda like liquid shoeshine polish brown, dirty looking, a porter. A nice amount of full volume bubbles in a tan shade with soapy sticking power. Smell is on the roasty side with nice amounts of chocolate, nuts and earthy hops. Taste is nice and smooth with roast, coffe, nuts, faint vanilla/cream, crystal malts, and with all that, a bit of old world character. Feel is a step below medium, muddled, faint carbed upped, comes and goes. I drank it quick, i liked it, Dock Street should do a Imperial version soon.

Serving type: growler

12-18-2010 05:50:50 | More by onix1agr

hopdog

Pennsylvania

3.83/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pint glass on tap at the Dock Street Brew Pub.

Poured a deeper brown color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of chocolate, some roastiness, and caramel. Tastes of chocolate, caramel, lighter roast, and nutty. On the sweeter side (I would have liked some bitterness in the finish).

Serving type: on-tap

02-06-2009 21:22:55 | More by hopdog

SPRichard

New Jersey

3.88/5  rDev +4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

had on tap at the 50th and Baltimore Dock Street Brewery

nice head retention and lacing....kinda looked like a flat cola

chocolate aroma...some roastiness

medium body and carbonation...creamy....coffee and caramel

a simple beer that was very drinkable

Serving type: on-tap

06-02-2009 01:28:43 | More by SPRichard

garuda

Pennsylvania

3.9/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Black, one finger off white head that has good retention and decent lacing down the glass.

S/T - Nice roasted character with a bit of sweetness, maybe some vanilla. well balanced coffee and dark chocolate on the back end. A little bitterness through the finish. Just a touch of graininess as it warmed up in the aroma.

M - A shade shy of a full body with good low carbonation, smooth across the palate.

D - Nice representation of the style, but nothing outstanding either. I'd get it again. Drinks very easily.

Serving type: on-tap

12-21-2010 00:22:47 | More by garuda

NeroFiddled

Pennsylvania

3.98/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I enjoyed this one night on tap at the brewpub in West Philly while Jeff was making pies and Rosemarie flittered about. Good service from the bartender, BTW, who's name I didn't get but was from another country (I'm thinking perhaps Croatia?). Anyway, I'm pretty sure this beer is named for the Man Full of Trouble Tavern (the only surviving tavern of colonial Philadelphia, built 1759) located at 125 Spruce St. near Little Dock Creek, and later on, Dock Street - inspiration for the original Dock Street Brewing Company (and although no breweries were ever actually located there, there were several in the vicinity). The story behind the name of the beer, however, is probably more interesting than the beer itself which was simply a basic porter: Typical appearance. Average head retention and lacing. Chocolatey aroma with some limited roastiness. Medium bodied. Moderate carbonation. Creamy smooth and chocolatey and nutty/caramelish with just a hint of black coffee. Restrained bitterness. No real hop flavors to speak of, as it really should be in an English-style porter. It was very drinkable, but also quite simplistic, although I can't exactly fault it for that. A decent pint to be sure!!!

Serving type: on-tap

05-14-2009 21:37:14 | More by NeroFiddled

weeare138

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Appears a opaque black with a tan cap that quickly fades into a tiny head. Tons of scattered lacing is left around the glass.
Smell is of cocoa, herbs, cut wood, toffee, and roasted malts.
Taste is of the aromas with a flavorful punch of ripe fruit and vanilla smoothness.
Mouthfeel is of the aromas with a chewy full roastines thy screams brown sugar in espresso from a mile away.

Serving type: on-tap

05-01-2010 18:13:20 | More by weeare138

TheFightfan1

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

On-tap at the brewpub. Poured a dark brown with a nice thick coffee colored heading. Left some decent lacing and the heading held up for a while.The nose is mostly cocoa with a somewhat herbal medicinal aroma,roasted malts as well.Taste however is slightly different the roasted malts,and cocoa are there but with a darker fruit's and touch of oak perhaps. Medium bodied with a subtle sweeter linger left on the palate. A solid porter and was very impressed.

Serving type: bottle

11-28-2010 18:52:50 | More by TheFightfan1

mvanaskie13

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a pint glass from a growler straight from the brewery tap, picked up last night. Color is dark brown to black, had is light tan with some nice lacing.

Smell is lightly toasted, some wheat notes and maybe some light oatmeal, biscuits, light roasted malt touch of chocolate.

Taste is pretty well balanced, solid flavor, great blend of oat/wheat/biscuit flavors quickly matched by solid malt sweetness and dryed up by some very good roast/black malts and hint of chocolate. Bitterness is solid, but hop flavors blend into the background with notes of grass/freshness.

Mouthfeel is well balanced on the verge of being a touch sweet, but a good hop and light roast bitterness balances nicely.

Overall, great porter from Dock Street. Also tried the imperial porter and fresh hop rye which were very good as well.

Serving type: growler

09-30-2012 23:30:04 | More by mvanaskie13

ColForbinBC

New Jersey

4.15/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On-tap at the brewpub, served in a pint

An opaque, dark black body with a foamy greyish two finger head that left a good amount of lacing in its wake.

The nose is pretty straightforward, bittersweet chocolate, roast and toffee. I almost get a nuttiness as well, walnuts?

On the palate, the same flavors come forward as the nose except there is an added vanilla sweetness that is more then welcome. The sweetness from the vanilla cuts through the roast/bitterness nicely and raises the quaffability considerably.

Medium to full body with a nice light finish. Mild lingering lactose sugar sweetness, cocoa and roast.

This was an enjoyable brew. Very simple and straightforward and done well.

Serving type: on-tap

11-22-2010 22:13:48 | More by ColForbinBC

koopa

New Jersey

4.38/5  rDev +17.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Had this one on cask at the Grey Lodge this past Saturday.

Appearance: Pours dark brown with a 1.5 finger off white (dirty beige) crown that displays good retention and some lace.

Smell: Chocolate, toffee, wood, and moderate roasted malt.

Taste: Same as nose. Well integrated and enjoyable.

Mouthfeel: Cask conditioning really has helped this one. Just a beautiful creamy delight.

Drinkability: Sessionable.

Serving type: cask

09-06-2010 18:23:11 | More by koopa