Origin: UK
Type: Porter
Color: Reddish black
Alcohol content: 4,9%
Recommended serving temperature: 12ºC/54ºF
I have decided to write today about a fantastic discovery I made last weekend in London, the Titanic Plum Porter.
Just from looking at this blog's history, you can tell that I am not much of a fruity beer guy, so this is highly unusual. My girlfriend ordered it first (this is not me trying to make excuses, it's the actual truth), but when I tried it (a bit reluctantly) I liked it so much I had to order one for myself... and after finishing my own, I knew I had to write about it.
This reddish black porter doesn't really develop much foam, at least not the one I had, hand pumped from a cask. I imagine the bottled version may have a bit more carbonation to it, although I have to say I didn't really miss it in this beer.
Its smell is intense and very sweet. You don't even have to stick your nose in the pint to get hit by this beer's fruitiness. The dark fruits hit you like an iceberg (I had to make the joke), hard and without mercy, but its effects are pleasant and not at all cloying.
I have chosen the words dark fruits here because although Titanic's webpage expressly says that they have added natural plum flavoring, to me it smells like blueberry muffins. I guess it's just the lack of training in fruity beers, or fruits for that matter. In any case, the fruitiness rules the smell with an iron fist, not letting any other odor get through.
This continues into the taste, where the plums or blueberries invade your taste buds in a velvety soft liquid, as if you were drinking syrup or a delicate yogurt.
The beautiful part of the whole thing is it is never overwhelmingly sweet in the mouth, as opposed to what you would expect from its smell. To make this even better, it is rounded off by a slightly bitter and dry finish which leaves the softest fruity taste and makes you crave more.
It would probably be a delight with a plain old muffin, bringing the taste of fruit and the velvetiness to complement the sponginess of the muffin and making you almost want to dip the latter into the beer before you take a bite.
After trying it I kind of feel obligated to push aside my traditional temperance towards fruity beers and tell you that this is a really wonderful beer. That it made me feel all warm, tingly and summery inside despite the rain that was pouring outside and that it made me fall in love once again with British pubs all by itself. Britain's pubs make everything better and this beer appears to cure all.
Its smell is intense and very sweet. You don't even have to stick your nose in the pint to get hit by this beer's fruitiness. The dark fruits hit you like an iceberg (I had to make the joke), hard and without mercy, but its effects are pleasant and not at all cloying.
I have chosen the words dark fruits here because although Titanic's webpage expressly says that they have added natural plum flavoring, to me it smells like blueberry muffins. I guess it's just the lack of training in fruity beers, or fruits for that matter. In any case, the fruitiness rules the smell with an iron fist, not letting any other odor get through.
This continues into the taste, where the plums or blueberries invade your taste buds in a velvety soft liquid, as if you were drinking syrup or a delicate yogurt.
The beautiful part of the whole thing is it is never overwhelmingly sweet in the mouth, as opposed to what you would expect from its smell. To make this even better, it is rounded off by a slightly bitter and dry finish which leaves the softest fruity taste and makes you crave more.
It would probably be a delight with a plain old muffin, bringing the taste of fruit and the velvetiness to complement the sponginess of the muffin and making you almost want to dip the latter into the beer before you take a bite.
After trying it I kind of feel obligated to push aside my traditional temperance towards fruity beers and tell you that this is a really wonderful beer. That it made me feel all warm, tingly and summery inside despite the rain that was pouring outside and that it made me fall in love once again with British pubs all by itself. Britain's pubs make everything better and this beer appears to cure all.
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