Baltika No. 6 Porter

Baltika (Балтика) in St. Petersburg, Russia, brews nine different styles. (They also brew a non-alcoholic beer, which they label as No. 0. Clever, that.) Vinodel donated three of them to me. While it’s not exactly “porter” weather, I thought I’d take a break from the lighter ales and try out Number 6: The Porter.

Here’s what they say about it:

This traditional dark beer is brewed according to ancient English recipes. Baltika’s Porter is one of the most eminent varieties of Russian beer with a long heritage.

Their website even offers the calorie count, ingredients, recommended shelf life, and initial wort concentration.

It’s a nice chocolatey brown with some red highlights, opaque, and with a foamy head the color of coffee with cream. Aroma is lightly roasted, lightly chocolate, with maybe a hint of coffee. I can detect the alcohol as well. At 7% ABV that’s not really surprising.

Nice malty sweetness and pleasantly thick. There’s just a hint of sourness but finishes with that nice roasted flavor.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stand up to the high alcohol content. It’s not bad, certainly, but it seems to me that there are some undiscovered subtleties of flavor there behind the alcohol which will remain hidden forever.

It is entirely possible that in the dead of winter, with the wind howling outside, this will be precisely the beer I want to have. Right now it’s just too hot.

[rating: 2.5/5]