Unplugged Old English Porter
Served in a Devil's Backbone willibecher. Big thanks to Hophead101 for this bottle! Reviewed blind as part of the Blind Beers BIF. Here goes: It pours a clear garnet (brown without light) topped by a nice finger o' bright foam. Whoa! The nose holds a good amount of sour, possibly brett. Behind that, a mixture of caramel and blackly toasted biscuit. Something akin to smoked ham lingers in the back. I did not see this coming. The sour fun continues on the tongue, a bit fruitier than before: sour grapes, sour oranges, sour green apples, sour berries. Mix 'em all up, like the initial bite after downing half a roll of ShockTarts. Some mild toffee rests peacefully in the back, but doesn't do much else. Face it, it's sour town. The body is kind of a light medium, with a moderate carbonation and a dry finish. When I pulled the concealing wrapping away and discovered this was a porter, I was floored. I'd never heard of a sour porter before, but it was pretty tasty, definitely new. This is the kind of beer a blind tasting was designed for.