Beer Review #15: Oceanbryggeriet Goteborgsporter

One of the things I love about this journey through beer (or rather, the Abbot's Ale House and Bradley's) is that moment when you see a beer you don't recognize, never heard of, and didn't even want before you came in, but you buy it anyway. This is the process that led to me acquiring Ocean Goteborsporter, from the Oceanbryggeriet in Gothenburg, Sweden, and it was one that went against my usual beer drinking M.O. I usually research any beer I find in the shop, comparing it to others of the style, taking the price into consideration, and maybe putting it on my vague 'to buy' list. However, when a bottle looks good, and the price looks better, I'm willing to throw caution (and cash) to the wind. This, even though I'm not the biggest fan of porters or stouts. I had the 500ml bottle in a Duvel tulip glass.

This is the kind of label that gets unknown
beers bought.

English Porter at 5.0% ABV

L: Pitch black in colour, with a creamy 3 finger head initially, off white in colour. Decent lacing too. Solid looking porter. 7/10

S: Smell's flippin amazing. Very chocolatey and sweet, with hints of coffee and liquorice. Nice and smoky too, slightly medicinal scents, and a strong backbone of dark chocolate. Good stuff. 9/10

T: As with the smell, smoke and chocolate is here in force too. It's got a great malty sweetness, with virtually no hops. It's not as complex as the smell, maybe even a bit one-dimensional, but it isn't exactly bad. 6/10

M: Smooth with slight carbonation, and a very light body. Thin, even. Like the taste, there's just not much to it. 5/10

The verdict: The smell is great. I mean, I can't think of many beers where I've enjoyed the smell this much, but apart from that the beer remains sitting happily just above average. 6/10

The Drunken Destrier score: 66/100