Home › Reviews

Bottled Stouts & Porters

Wed, 19/08/2009 - 21:20 — DM

Below is a list of the bottled stouts & porters I have tasted.   Many are given poor marks for being oxidised or infected, which is not necessarily the beers fault - I just had a bad bottle.   Mostly.   There are some breweries that bottle beers very poorly & my way of finding this out before purchase is usually to look at the label quality - if the label is just paper, then the beer is usually bottled cheaply on a hand bottling line.   A waxed or metallic label usually indicates a little more money has been spent on quality control.

Brewery Beer Notes ABV Marks out of 10
RCH Old Slug Chocolatey, lots of roast malt flavour 4.5 10
Branded Drinks Coal Fired Porter Rich, smooth, malty but not sweet, chocolate & roasted flavour 4.6 9
Odell Cut throat Porter Full bodied, dryish, lots of roast malt taste, cocoa, black coffee, English tasting 4.8 9
Salopian Entire Butt Malty, roasty, not sweet, dark, chocolatey 4.8 9
Vale Brewery Co Black Beauty Porter Roasty, not burnt, caramelly, dry 4.3 8
Daleside Porter Little bit smokey, full but not sweet 4.4 8
Orkney Dark Island Smells sweet, roasty flavour dominates, 4.6 8
Samuel Smith Taddy Porter Good malty, chocolatey porter, fairly dry 5.0 8
Rogue Mocha Porter black chocolate, dryish, a touch of tartness 5.3 8
Conwy Brewery Telford Porter very smooth & chocolatey, gentle bitterness, a little earthy hop character 5.6 8
Williams Black full bodied, good burnt black malt bitterness, gentle hop bitterness, 4.2 7
Acorn Brewery Old Moor Porter Burnt, roast malt flavour, bitter, full but not sweet 4.4 7
Wagtail Black Beauty Porter dark chocolate flavour, good hoppy bitterness, 4.5 7
Battersea Power Station Porter Malty sweet, some toffee, 4.9 7
Shepherd Neame (Asda) Whitechapel Porter some malty sweetness, roasted barley bitterness, some alcohol warmth 5.2 7
Anchor Porter caramel malty, chewy dark malts, good bitterness, an alcohol glow 5.6 7
Williams Midngiht Sun full bodied, subtley spicey & ginger taste 5.6 7
Flying Dog Porter Malty sweet, roast malt, toasty, molasses 6.0 7
Meantime Coffee Porter Tiramasu, sweet coffee liquor, smooth 6.0 7
Ridgeway Bad King John Burnt malt flavour with some harsh bitterness, dryish 6.0 7
Meantime Chocolate Cocoa nibs, sweeish, some bitterness, cocoa 6.5 7
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter alcohol heat, liquorice, citrussy hops, good bitterness in afterglow of alcohol fire 8.7 7
Allgates Porteresque Smooth & silky, full, some roast malt flavour 4.4 6
Ringwood XXXX Porter Caramel, toasty, roast, 4.7 6
Three B's Knocker Up Some bitter chocolate taste, a little bitter hop aftertaste, 4.8 6
Fuller's London Porter Roasted, burnt flavours, a little toffee, 5.4 6
Left Hand Black Jack Porter Molasses, sugar syrup sweet, good bitterness, demorara sugar 5.8 6
Fallen Angel Hickory Switch Porter Pine smoke, 4.5 5
Milestone Dark 'n' Stormy Toffee, caramel, molasses 5.4 5
Cerveceria Mexicana Hacienda Cerveza Potro Infected sour and fairly oxidised, undrinkable 4.7 0
Dark Star Espresso Stout Chocolatey, coffee, intense 4.2 9
Milestone Black Pearl Full bodied, dry, 4.3 9
Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout Dry, burnt, full bodied 4.6 9
Daleside Chocolate Stout smooth, chocolatey, roasty 4.0 8
Guinnessi Stout Good strerotypical stout, smooth & dry with some burnt flavour 4.2 8
Sulwath The Black Galloway A touch burnt, a little smokey, malty, smooth but not really sweet 4.4 8
Coniston Special Oatmeal Stout typical oat smoothness, full bodied, good roastiness 4.5 8
Meantime London Stout Full bodied with some malty sweetness, good burnt - toasty flavours 4.5 8
Titanic Stout very burnt black malt flavour, good bitterness 4.5 8
Traditional Scottish Ales Glencoe Organic Wild Oat Stout Sweet stout but not cloying, liquorice & burnt flavours, smooth 4.5 8
Wagtail Stout Wood smokey, dry, full 4.5 8
Wooden Hand Brewing Black Pearl silky, sweetish, full bodied, like an oat stout 4.5 8
O'Hanlon's Port Stout not enough 'o's in smooth, full bodied 4.8 8
Ossett Brewery Treacle Stout treacley but dryish, full bodied 5.0 8
Youngs & Wells Satanic Mills Full flavoured but not sweet, chocolate, roasted & burnt a little 5.0 8
Beowolf Dragon Smoke Stout full bodied, dryish, some roast & black malt 5.3 8
Goffs Black Knight Full bodied, not too sweet, roasty, a little burnt flavour 5.3 8
Samuel Smith Imperial Stout Alcohol taste, rounded roast & malt 7.0 8
Harviestoun Ola Dubh whiskey, warmth, not too sweet, gentle toastiness, full mouthfeel 8.0 8
Ridgeway Lump Of Coal Much alcohol warmth, very drying aftertaste, burnt 8.0 8
Victory Storm King Imperial Stout Good bitterness, good hoppiness, molasses, dark malt sweetness 9.1 8
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout Smooth, chocolatey, not too sweet or bitter 10.6 8
Murphys Murphys roasty, not burnt, rounded flavour, a little smokey 4.0 7
Broughton Oatmeal Stout Some burnt, some dark caramel flavours, dryish, full 4.2 7
Kingstone Brewery No 1 Premium Stout Full, roast, burnt, tiny amount of lactic taste 4.4 7
Wagtail Black Shuck Stout Good chocolate & black malt taste, some bitterness 4.5 7
Boggart Hole Clough Brewery Dark Side A little sweet but full bodied & smooth 5.0 7
Hambleton Ales Nightmare fruity beer, more winter ale than stout, roasted barley aroma 5.0 7
Ridgeway Old Imperial Stout Rounded, mellow, not bitter or hoppy at all 8.0 7
Cropton Scoresby Stout A little sour, burnt & roast flavours, dry 4.2 6
Glencoe Wild Oat Stout Full bodied oat flavour 4.5 6
Marston's Oyster Sout Mellow, soft, not too sweet, not bitter or burnt at all 4.5 6
Mauldons Black Adder much black malt giving a big burnt taste – too much, full bodied, 5.3 6
Red Rat Craft Brewery Crazy Dog Stout chocolatey, loads of black malt taste, not much body for a 6% beer 6.0 6
Williams Ebulum blackcurrant, very little bitterness, smooth & velvety like an oat stout, 6.5 6
Guinness Foreign Extra Alcohol, sourish, rounded 7.5 6
Ridgeway Foreign Export Stout Sweetish, chocolatey, malty 8.0 6
De Dolle Special Extra Export Stout Reasonable stout with a little acetic taste 9.0 6
Little Valley Brewery Organic Stoodley Stout A little soured by infection, some burnt wood flavour, 4.8 5
Milestone Hammer Head Stout Roast barley, a little lactic, 5.2 5
Dark Star Imperial Stout Much alcohol aroma & taste, liquorice, coffee 10.5 5
Wilson Mild Stout Sweet, caramelly, not bitter or burnt at all 5.2 4
Fallen Angel Black Death Chilli Beer Undrinkable, sour with infection & oxidised, massive chilli heat in aftertaste 3.2 0