Dark London Porter - Badlands Brewery

PolarBear3

Australia

3.03/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Drank from my Duvel Tulip

A - Poured a nice darkish brown colour with a two fingered off white frothy head, that reduces slightly but retains fairly well with some decent lacing.

S - Strong roasted coffee, chocolate and a hint of vanilla

T - Some sweet malts and the roasted coffee/expresso, chocolate. Has a rather slightly bitter finish which I found leaves an average and very bland taste in your mouth.

M - Medium to full bodied with medium carbonation.

O - Not a bad try for a porter but really just an average beer that lacks complexity in its flavours to make you pick it up again.

Serving type: bottle

02-21-2012 12:14:08 | More by PolarBear3

lacqueredmouse

Australia

2.95/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Limited release from the brewery. This is bottle #005 of 200, purchased by my Dad, an Orange local.

Pours quite a deep brown colour, with a decent haze to it. It's dark enough that it looks stylistically good, but light enough that you can pick the hue. Head is a bit filmy, and takes a bit to get it going, but the low carbonation fits the style nicely. Bubbling in the head is very fine, and it leaves some sudsy, but not particularly intricate lacing. It looks pretty nice.

Nose is roasty and a little astringent. Mostly grain based, little sweetness of coffee, or even the blackened charred nature of truly dark beer. To be honest, there's not a lot to it. It certainly lacks complexity, although the characters are decent enough.

Taste is similar, the roastiness is the only real note to it, although it has a slightly harsh banana character coming through as well, which is a bit out of style. Finish is very weak and the feel is very light indeed. I really feel it needs a lot of body to back it up, and some more complexity to make it interesting.

It's a shame that this is not a better beer. For a "special release", they could do something more adventurous. This is a very safe and tame beer, and not a great example of the style.

I hope they try something more exciting in the future.

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2010 07:14:51 | More by lacqueredmouse

laituegonflable

Australia

3.5/5  rDev +10.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 4

Pours a rich, deep brown; not as dark as some. Head is off-white, again not as dark as some. Decent at first, but sinks quickly, leaving little to the eye, just a cloud of saliva-esque foam. Decent, but thin, lace as well. Not a bad porter; not great either.

Smells quite chocolatey; classic dark grain but really noticeable barley notes on it as well. Some herbal notes like mint, and vanilla adding sweetness. Yeah, lovely sweet, chocolatey with hints of espresso and a hint of sourness. Not bad, again.

Tastes...portery. Fair amount of roasted grain, with barley and some oatmeal notes early. Retains that all for the mid but gains a chocolate note with some dry roasted espresso characters as well. Finish has a light, very light spice. I guess it's peppery in that there's a light spice sensation without a lot of noticeable flavour. The back is slightly woody with mild red vinous notes. Overall I feel it's a bit lacking, but it has all the right porter notes so I feel like it might just be where the style generally feels lacking to me.

Feel is a bit empty, really. I can feel the body in my mouth, but there's little more behind it, just enough for me to know there's something roasty on my tongue.

This is mild enough to drink quite readily. It does, though, remind me why I'm bigger on stouts than porters. Just a bit on the meh side.

Serving type: bottle

12-25-2010 05:54:42 | More by laituegonflable