Old Leghumper
From a bottle contract brewed by Frederick in Maryland; fresh from the brewery. (...and, man, you've gotta love the label on this one with the dog sitting in front of three sets of attractive female legs!) This superbly chocolatey porter delivers the typically expected appearance with a black body that reveals ruby-mahogany highlights at the base of the glass and a creamy tan head. Unfortunately, the head retention is a bit limited, and it drops shortly to an average collar. The nose is restrained, but that's OK for the style, and it does offer some malt with an almost "Ovaltine" and mocha java character to it, as well as some almost "smoky" roastiness. In the mouth it's medium-light bodied and lighty zesty on the palate with a fine-bubbled, moderate carbonation. The flavor delivers lightly sweet chocolate and caramel, backed by a soft coffee character; and balanced by a mild bitterness. Some delicate grassy hops come through in the end; and it finishes short with a dollop of sweetish caramel/chocolate/coffee malt that fades to a lingering coffee note. Overall, this is a really well-done, basic porter that has a great malt constituent. It's well-rounded, nicely balanced without too much dark malt acidity, and quite easy to drink. It's light enough in character that it would make a decent session ale (although the alcohol is a little high for that at 5.7%); it passes muster for a summer brew as well as a great fall/winter quaff; it pairs well with a wide variety of foods (grilled pork chops, mussels marinara, pizza, black bean and corn soup); and it would fit in quite appropriately at quite a number of social functions (guy's poker night, backyard BBQ, simple night at the pub, holiday get-together, back-at-camp beer, etc). Well done!