Most of the beers I’ve been covering so far this year have been Canadian beers, but I recently found out that other cultures exist. To quell any rumors of me being a filthy canuck xenophobe, I decided to review a favorite of mine from across the pond, Fuller’s London Porter. Porters are a favorite beer style of mine, directly behind stouts, so this one means a lot to me. Fuller’s description for the porter is “rich, dark, and complex,” and while I’m neither rich nor complex, my heart is a black gaping hole in my chest so the London Porter really hits home.
This beer pours a deep dark brown with a light brown one finger head. The smell hits you with a bit of chocolate and malt, with a hint of nuttiness, much like that one uncle everybody has. The mouthfeel is inoffensive and pleasant, with a bit of a lighter body than I like on my porters. Carbonation is kinda absent. The taste is characteristic of those specialty milk chocolate bars with almonds in them. I’m detecting a hint of vanilla, which is conveniently the name of my next mixtape. The overall character of the beer is very sweet. The aftertaste is pretty much the same, with a slight bitterness and hoppiness. A fruit fly landed in my glass while I was drinking this and it made me angry. The fruit fly did not compliment the flavor.
If you’re into dark beers, I highly recommend checking this one out. However, if you’re in a love affair with shitty coolers it might not be the drink for you. It’s not my favorite porter I’ve ever had – that award goes to a chocolate porter I found in Vancouver – but it’s still one of the better beers at the Wolfville NSLC. If you happen to be British and you’re missing home, I guess this London beer will remind you of the homeland. Or you could just Skype your family like everybody else.
