London Porter - Meantime Brewing Company Limited

peensteen

Ontario (Canada)

4/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Deep brown colour, just over one finger of tan/beige head, some lace. Smell is of roast and black liquorice, coffee beans, cocoa beans, light but present earthy/leafy hop. Taste is roasty with black liqourice/anise, chocolate and coffee, medium bitterness mid palate, finish is nice and roasted and lingers around in the aftertaste. Light-medium carbonation, medium full body, nice solid feel. Quite a good porter, quite drinkable but this didn't blow me away, I could drink another glass of this again though.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2012 12:50:51 | More by peensteen

zenithberwyn

California

4.25/5  rDev +5.5%

05-20-2013 05:07:55 | More by zenithberwyn

hosehead83

Ohio

4.36/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Poured from an 11.2 oz elegant, bowling-pin bottle into a standard pint glass.
Dark brown with ruby highlights, and a nice, thick cap of tan foam. Inviting.
Aroma-Dark toasted malt,toffee note.
Taste-Coffee and cream, caramel,toffee, faint charred bitterness in the finish. Nice depth of flavor and character. A classic English porter and a fine match for a steak or burger.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2013 17:27:02 | More by hosehead83

Stevie_Janowski

Illinois

5/5  rDev +24.1%

05-11-2013 23:55:54 | More by Stevie_Janowski

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

4.06/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25

750ml corked and caged bottle poured into tulip 7/5/13

A doesn't look that dark out of the bottle but sits nearly black in the glass, large loose head hangs around for ages leaving a single thick ring followed by random patches

S coco and cola, slightly nutty, sponge toffee with a little smoke and some earthy notes, faint licorice and milky chocolate as it warms with just a little cherry

T everything I smell but just slightly toned down, more dark roast and faint coffee, tastes solid but I preferred the nose

M thin liquid for how dark it is but the bubbles give it some life, nutty coco lingers faintly on the finish

O drinks like a session brew and that counts for something at 6.5%, pretty solid example of the style

worth a try for sure, what one would expect from and English Porter, I picked this up for 7$ and I have a feeling it was priced wrong by just looking at the big corked bottle.

Serving type: bottle

05-08-2013 05:56:30 | More by wordemupg

joemcgrath27

Alberta (Canada)

4.18/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

props to andrenaline for including this in our lass cross country trade
A - dark but just clear cola black, two fingers of head retained extremely well and left plenty of consistent lacing
S - big chocolate and roasty aromas, touch of earth and leather
T - chocolate, cola syrup, light smoky flavour rounds out the malts, mild touch of leafy hops in the background
M - medium to light with a bubbly smoothness, finishes sweet and lightly coats the tounge
O - this is a proper porter, malty and rich but light and very drinkable, looking forward to trying more from this brewer as I just saw them on Calgary shelves

Serving type: bottle

05-08-2013 02:16:06 | More by joemcgrath27

Brenden

Ohio

4/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A nice dark brown with a touch of lighter brown and ghost of a reddish hue at the edges and in the highlights, the original London porter certainly plays the part. It grows a tight, creamy brown head that peaks at almost exactly a finger, maybe a hair over. A good quantity of l acing is left in patches.
The aroma is approriately malt-forward, slightly roasty but not excessively, and a bit toasty as well. A touch of char is kept well in check. A faint touch of chalk reminds me it's an English through and through, and it finishes with a bit of cocoa.
The flavor very much follows. With Meantime, what you smell is what you taste. This beer is real, and it's something American drinkers who are on the verge of blowing their palates should get into to learn a lesson in balance and brewing full-flavored beers that don't need to blow your face off. A very light note of earthy and leafy hops bitterness lends an herbal note in the finish.
The medium body is perfectly sized to the style. My main issue is that the carbonation is really lively; it's not spritzy or big-bubbled, by any means, but it's really foamy. Otherwise, it's a lesson in how to make a porter just as robust as it needs to be without being too strong.

Serving type: bottle

05-06-2013 19:26:46 | More by Brenden

DrDemento456

Pennsylvania

3.76/5  rDev -6.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

A - A very deep amber brown almost pitch except for a slight ruby hue at the base. Head is a tan colored 1/4 inch that reduces to a mild lace ring.
S - Rich roasted coffee and some bitter sweet chocolate. Little skunk yet it does have a nice bit of hops in the nose. Hope it tastes as good as it smells.
T - A very dry porter which I expected from the higher ABV, being closer to an imperial. Has a acidic tone to it but never gets too undesirable or hoppy. Has a sort of Folgers coffee taste to it never really being too distinct along with some chocolate malt tones.
M - Fairly creamy it does a great job hiding the ABV. Drinks with a medium body.

Overall this is a real step down from drinking their fine coffee porter. The whole time drinking this I felt like something was missing and it was that of a stronger roasty coffee tone.

Skip this and have the coffee version instead.

Serving type: bottle

05-05-2013 00:00:49 | More by DrDemento456

drgonzo2k2

California

4/5  rDev -0.7%

04-20-2013 14:57:33 | More by drgonzo2k2

beerhunter13

Ontario (Canada)

4/5  rDev -0.7%

04-09-2013 12:10:45 | More by beerhunter13

GRUUMSH

Belgium

4/5  rDev -0.7%

04-08-2013 13:39:39 | More by GRUUMSH

BGDrock

Ontario (Canada)

3.1/5  rDev -23.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Appearance: dark like motor oil, but with a ruby tinge under the light; head the colour of caramel, fine and sticky, good retention

Aroma: acidic, a bit of tang, hinting at the roast; bitter chocolate/espresso; fennel; hint of raspberry, cassis, cherry

Taste & Mouthfeel: chocolate dominates, along with a sharp bitterness in the finish; mouthfeel is more watery than I'd like, feels like it's missing some substance; flavour leaves something to be desired - it's not that rich, full chocolate, but thin like corner store coffee; really just plain, slightly burnt roast and not much else

Overall: not bad, but not interesting, the definition of average

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2013 13:40:42 | More by BGDrock

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

4.19/5  rDev +4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

750ml caged and corked bottle. Once again, 'In the Meantime' echoes in my 90's retro-focused brain. Nice sextant imagery on the label, though.

This beer pours a clear, very dark reddish amber hue, with three fingers of shiny, puffy, and frothy pale beige head, which leaves some funky, intricate sea-spray lace around the glass as it slowly abates.

It smells of dry, pithy cocoa powder, tanned leather, my wife's weird-ass Scandinavian salt licorice, ashy tobacco, a further smokiness that evokes charred black fruit - namely plump cherries and apple skins - a fresh coffee-tinted caramel malt, and a sour milk acridity. The taste is bittersweet chocolate up front, roasted bready caramel malt, some sultry lactic creaminess, a softened charred smokiness, gritty roasted coffee beans, and some leafy, grassy noble hops.

The carbonation is really quite unobtrusively innocuous, the body a sturdy medium weight, and silky smooth, with strongly creamy tendencies. It finishes on the sweet side, the chocolate and milkiness trumping the smoke and coffee in their communal lingering.

While not the chocolate overdose of some new world offerings, that is the whole point. This traditional incarnation displays the sour milk, and old castle trappings of smoke, coffee, and leather, doing so with a traipsing elan, one more and more easily found these days, thankfully.

Serving type: bottle

04-06-2013 05:58:42 | More by biboergosum

claytong

Vermont

4/5  rDev -0.7%

04-02-2013 23:36:05 | More by claytong

Phyl21ca

Quebec (Canada)

3.86/5  rDev -4.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Bottle: Poured a deep black color porter with a large brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma consists of floral coffee notes with some dry and lightly bitter roasted malt and some subtle dark chocolate notes. Taste is also dominated by some floral coffee notes and some subtle black chocolate notes with some dry roasted malt notes also playing a major role. Light residual sugar can also be detected with no astringency and good balance overall. Body is average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Solid rendition of the style with good balance overall.

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2013 20:32:51 | More by Phyl21ca

DarthKostrizer

California

3.5/5  rDev -13.2%

03-27-2013 08:19:03 | More by DarthKostrizer

Peyton5410

New Jersey

4.25/5  rDev +5.5%

03-24-2013 19:49:53 | More by Peyton5410

Lanstrum

Ohio

4/5  rDev -0.7%

03-23-2013 21:30:31 | More by Lanstrum

vogeljason

New York

4/5  rDev -0.7%

03-16-2013 19:08:48 | More by vogeljason

chippo33

Vermont

3/5  rDev -25.6%

03-13-2013 23:36:09 | More by chippo33

Chrysostom

Ohio

4.75/5  rDev +17.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.5

I'll lay my cards out before I begin: this is the best porter on the face of the planet. It's probably the best stout or imperial stout, too, being an extremely strong (6.5%) porter, and a somewhat weak imperial stout.

This stuff is $9/75cl. Thank you to Blacklick Wine and Spirits.

A: The new label isn't nearly as cool as the old one. Cork is removed with little pop: mild carbonation. 750mL bottle, corked and caged. Poured in to a Chimay goblet. Pours red, turning to black. Appears black in the glass, or as brown as one of the 1985 Cadillac Sedan DeVilles, but has blood-red (darker than ruby) highlights when held directly up to a 100-watt lightbulb. One finger of small, light-brown-to-camel-coloured head recedes to a patchy coating, something I associate with high-alcohol, low-hop brews. Lacing is minimal, but existent (barely). EDIT: My last bottle of this, when poured vigorously, had extensive lacing. YMMV per bottle.

S: Leather, tobacco, dark salty liquorice (like a mild salmiakki). Perique pipe tobacco, namely, and the smell of freshly-worked leather, including the shavings - as if in a workshop making sword scabbards and horse saddles and razor strops, while the leathermaster was smoking a pipe of the finest tobacco available, with an aroma of bitter to semi-sweet baker's chocolate emanating from parts unknown, and blending perfectly with the other components, for a truly excellent odor that begs one to smell it again. This stuff takes you back to the Middle Ages or to Middle Earth (or some other sword and sorcery book), whichever is thy preference.

The smell is unique: there is a definite leather, but smells of several types of tobacco, with Perique dominant, and Latakia obvious, but including cavendish and possibly burley undertones. With the drink cold, the salty liquorice and leather smells become predominant.

There are no liquor or alcohol smells present, but the mix of leather and tobacco aroma lends it a mild similarity to Macallan 25 year old scotch whisky, which is a testament in greatness.

T: Much as the bouquet, but with additional tastes of semi-sweet baker's cocoa and of burned caramel, along with a sumptuous raw, freshly-worked leather, some extremely mild floral character, and extraordinarily fine pipe-tobacco. Some salty liquorice, almost like Finnish salmiakki, although not as strong as the salmiakki-smell in the nose.. Mild-to-moderate hop bitterness, which is not present (as hop-smell) in the aroma. The bitterness seems more to be not from hops, but to be from roasted and burnt malts; however, this beer is moderately more bitter and hoppy than the average Porter, whether American (the signal example of which is Great Lakes' Edmund Fitzgerald), or English (Samuel Smith's). This is a "dry" porter.

M: Not very carbonated, but the lack of carbonation blends well with everything else. A little thin and sharp for the style, and for the rest of the beer. 3.75 to 4, subject to revision.

D: Moderate. This is a heavy, complex beer. Even with the low ABV, the taste is too rich to drink more than 1 750mL bottle of this at a time, IMO.

O: 92/100 for style. Maybe 95. Somewhere between 90 and 95. Out of all beers (my personal taste leans towards porters, stouts, and Belgians), probably an 82-85, being pushed down a bit by heavenly nectar such as St Bernardus Abbot 12 and Chimay Blue.

This beer varies significantly from batch to batch in incidentals such as mouthfeel and appearance. The nose and taste remain somewhat consistent, although with nothing near the consistency of larger brewers. My rating is based on the bottle(s) that I've had: YMMV.

This is a signal English Porter, a better exemplar of the style than even Samuel Smith's Old Taddy. This is the Porter, by which all English Porters shall be judged.

Pairings: "Dark goes with dark" is borne out here: recommended for caramelized, carbonized, and very spicy foods.

Specifically, tobacco comes to mind (a good cigar, or even a cigarette, enhances the flavours of both), as does tiramisu or other chocolaty desserts, highly-spiced meats, such as spicy Mexican burrito meat or Jamaican goat curry, and some examples of Indian curries. Greek gyros without the tzatziki would also pair well. Would be excellent with burnt steaks, such as the Pittsburgh-style, or anything that has undergone carbonization or heavy Maillard reactions. Would likely go well with roast or grilled fajitas of pork or beef (not shrimp), and some game, especially duck, frog, squirrel, and to a lesser degree, venison.

I strongly recommend against pairing this with Italian of any sort, anything that is sweet or overly acidic, contains tomato or citrus, is a "light"-tasting food, or seafood. It may possibly be paired with raw oysters, mussels, and clams, at your own risk (for symphony and synergy in taste), but it is not a pairing that screams at me, as do the pairings with spicy meat dishes and carbonized steaks.

Serving type: bottle

03-04-2013 10:11:24 | More by Chrysostom

owend

New Hampshire

4.25/5  rDev +5.5%

02-27-2013 20:29:40 | More by owend

AngusOg

Maryland

4/5  rDev -0.7%

02-25-2013 16:57:55 | More by AngusOg

rolltide8425

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -0.7%

02-25-2013 00:02:12 | More by rolltide8425

djrn2

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -6.9%

02-24-2013 16:39:50 | More by djrn2