The Porter

I get a chance to taste the porter tonight...FINALLY!  After opening three of them, all with different carbonation levels, I've decided the one with the five tabs has the most appropriate level of carbonation.  I'll use this in each one from here on out.

The porter pours a deep black with a thick, tan head.  The hops are present in the nose, as are the dark malts.  No sourness or alcohols are present in the aroma.  The flavor is clean, with a slightly burnt aftertaste.  There is a definite alcoholic warmth to the beer, bordering on downright heat.  The head dissipates quickly.

I like the subtle aroma, so the late hop addition seems to work well.  The bitterness level is spot on, and I'm not changing that either for the next iteration.  What I will try to work on for that one is the flavor.  While the beer is good, I feel some dark fruit notes may help combat the harshness of the black patent, which seems to dominate.

To accomplish this, I will take some of the black patent out, and add in some dark Crystal 120 malt.  I'm also switching yeasts to the Safeale US-05, both to attenuate further, and to create a more American style ale.