International Stout Day II - Beer!

Well, the pubs weren't open yesterday, obviously, but I thought I'd better buy myself a stout/porter as I suggested yesterday (earlier blog talks about this), so I visited Marks & Spencer, for food too of course, and came home with their 5.5% London Porter, brewed for them in Greenwich by Meantime Brewing (website). OK, it's not called a stout, but as my older blog argues, whether a beer is called a stout or porter more often depends on the brewer's own interpretation...

So I sampled this 5.5% 'porter' which I considered as more of a 'stout' - but! It has elements of both when considering how I describe the styles, deep dark reddish brown colour and pale brown head, not as much body as you'd expect for the strength, and with hints of chocolate and coffee in the aroma. Taste-wise I got more chocolate than coffee with a hint of roasted malt/barley, a bit sweet to begin with and a dark fruity and dry aftertaste... Not bad at all, cheers!

Pubs Still Closed: What to do?!?

So what can we do? Obvious really, not as good as drinking cask conditioned ales, but there is some interesting stuff in bottles and cans, so yesterday I tried...

St Austell (website) Proper Job, usually a 4.5% ale from the cask, but a 'beefed up' 5.5% in the 'bottle conditioned' version, as close as you're going to get to cask conditioned, in the circumstances. Yes, this is a pale hoppy beer; they call it 'Cornish IPA' and it does what it says on the label! Refreshing aroma and taste, with big citrus flavours, and a hint of tropical fruits, not surprising when you consider that the hops used in the brewing process are Willamette, Cascade and Chinook, a lovely mix. Actually, my recent tastings of this from cask have been disappointing (6-8 weeks ago), and friends have said similar, but this was very decent indeed.

And Meantime Brewing (website) London Porter, a 5.5% 'porter' brewed for Marks & Spencer. This was a reddish brown colour, chocolate in the aroma and a hint of chocolate in the taste, and roasted barley there too. This was quite thin, refreshing though, but a disappointment there was little body considering the strength. I would suggest this is more like a 'thin' stout rather than a porter (for opinion see older blog), Okay, but a wee bit disappointing... 

I shall be drinking some more of the bottled Proper Job very soon, cheers!