#4 in the Side Project series from Spike. 22 oz bomber, gold foil on the top, same (edited) green and blue label as the remainder of the Side Project series.
Apparently black, or at least very dark brown, pour with some nice rust colored highlights at the bottom of the glass. Some lucious, thick, tight-bubbled head, and lace which lends a smokey, yellowish tinge to the color of the suds.
Nose reveals very little which is a touch surprising considering the “chocolate hype” surrounding the release of this beer.
Also surprisingly there is very little chocolate taste in the beer considering its pitch. Smooth, easy drinking and virtually no hint of alcohol either; it was nice to enjoy a porter which to me seems a little more English than American. Lacks the silly over-hopping and bitterness that many American versions of the style stray into, and instead it delivers more of a classic, creamy, subtle experience. Either the alcohol in this is relatively low, or it’s immensely well hidden.
My palate only gives the standard chocolate notes that one might expect from the normal malts used in the style, and the extra effort in terms of the chocolate seems to fail to manifest itself.
If you are looking for an obviously BIG tasting beer with layers of chocolate and a huge ABV, pressed into a package where you get the hoppy bitterness of a typical American porter then this will disappoint. To me, it’s probably the best of the Side Project series so far and a porter truer to the original than I was expecting.