Old Dominion Baltic Porter

Brewer: Old Dominion
Style: Porter
ABV: 7%
Country: USA, Delaware

Was out and about the other night at American Tap Room for drinks. Not a bad selection here, plenty of choices outside of the typical selection of lite beers. Decided to give this a try based on the recommendation of the bartender.

Standard pint glass was nearly black in color some faint hints of brown around the edges. Thin Head.

Pleasing aroma of light coffee mixed with some toffee sweetness.

I was expecting a thick stout like body, but this was surprisingly light and watery. First tastes were of mild coffee and not much else. The problem was that this was served WAY too cold initially which I suspected was hiding a lot of the flavor. Sighing, I decided to wait it out. After maybe 15 minutes of my hands providing heat to the glass, I ventured another attempt. Much better the second time around. Coffee flavor was much more pronounced than before. The toffee that I detected in the aroma also became noticeable. Notes of licorice also started to make an appearance. The biggest change was that the mouth feel took on a wonderful buttery and creamy character. Finish had a good bitterness to it with pleasing smoked wood taste.

This served as an important lesson on having your beer at the right temperature. A general rule of thumb is the darker the beer, the warmer the serving temperature should be. Had I done this rating based on the cold temperature, this would have been a C or even a D. Having it at the right temperature turned this into a great beer that I would certainly enjoy again. A-