Fuller's London Porter: Porter's Coming Home
Written: May 09 '01 (Updated Jun 23 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: A great porter, nice malt, easy drinking.
Cons: Lack of dry finish, but no complaints
The Bottom Line: Another excellent offering from a great independant brewery. A must for any porter or stout fan, and a great intro for newcomers.
|
|
|
| andaryl's Full Review: Fuller's London Porter |
It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming……porter’s coming home.
Anyone British reading this will understand my little play on the words of Brodie, Skinner and Baddiel. For everyone else let me say, that this is an adaptation of the lyrics, “football’s coming home”, England’s anthem for the 1996 European Championships. You may ask the relevance of this in a beer article, other than the fact it’s a song that myself and friends would sing on the way home from many a pub crawl.
The lyrics I wrote are actually a testament to the origins of porter. Porter is an old English style, originating from London. Having started out as a combination of 3 draft ales: pale, brown and old, the concoction became known as an entire. In 1722 the first ready-made entire was brewed and named after its best customers, the porters of Victoria Station. Porter became the most popular style of its time but sadly became extinct in the 1900’s. It was mostly thanks to the USA microbrew revolution that the porter style was revived. Several English brewers again picked up on this style, no doubt attracted by its appeal to such a big export market. So while many may forget that Porter was born in London, much as you’d be forgiven for forgetting that football was born in England, I reemphasize that in Fuller’s London Porter, porter is most definitely coming home.
I’ll get down to the beer in my hand
As with all Fuller’s products I’ve tried so far this one arrives in the uniform brown, thick, sturdy, Victorian pint (18.6 oz) bottle. The bottle carries a look, which encourages confidence. The ambiguity of the words “Rich & Dark” on the label, just make you want to find out for yourself what’s inside.
My bottle was chilled, so I took the time to write my introduction before opening the bottle up. This allowed me a mini break from writing while I sat back and watched the rerun of tonight’s Laker game. If Dave ever pops into epinions again I’d like to know his views on Webber and the Kings right now.
Upon popping the top, this is the time when I best get the aroma in a beer, after all the beer’s just dying to escape. In London Porter, the aroma is very well pronounced, chocolate malt, coffee-cream, with a slight spicy note. The pour is much as you’d expect from a porter, essentially black, although you’ll see some red when you hold it up to the light. The body doesn’t look too thick, while a light mocha-colored foam forms on top.
This beer grabs your attention as soon as it passes your lips. It’s remarkably malty, sweet, creamy and turns to caramel mid-palate. It reminds me a little of my wife’s coffee and how she likes to add those mocha-flavored creams. The flavor turns a little alcoholic at the back of the palate. Now with most porters I’ve tasted you’re just waiting for the dryness at the end but this doesn’t quite happen here; instead it’s a little bit of a tease. Sure there is some dryness but nothing dominating. The aftertaste remains long with a lingering smooth maltiness that you can actually chew on for a while.
The Verdict
For a porter this is very easy drinking, due to its lack of dominance on the palate. The lack of a clear dry bitter finish was a little disappointing but did nothing to deter my enjoyment and undoubted recommendation. If you’re a Porter, or Fuller’s fan, make sure you give this one a try. If you’ve never tried porter, Fuller’s is as good a place to start as any.
If you’re looking for a food pairing here, as with all beers my view is eat first, drink after. If you must, try something sweet, a little cheesecake or due to the coffee-like character I’d also like to check this out alongside a chocolate croissant.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
|
 in Music, Movies |
 in Movies |
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Andrew Smith
Location: California via Yorkshire
Reviews written: 567
Trusted by: 371 members
About Me:September saw The Beatles rereleases. Need help? Checkout my guide here
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.