Time For A Porter
I haven’t “officially” reviewed many Porters so far. Well, that’s about to change. I have usually enjoyed the Porter style of beer and I want to reacquaint myself with them. Porters, as a style, are a bit all over the map with lots of variety. That means there should be lots of good beers to drink out there. I’m going to start with a fairly popular, and well received beer.
Carlsberg Sverige in Sweden(the website is in Swedish) brews D. Carnegie & Co. Stark Porter, a Baltic Porter style beer. Baltic Porters are stronger, more robust versions, of Porter originally “designed” to withstand the trip across the North Sea to Russia. Their ABV is usually on the higher end of the scale, often over 7%ABV. The D. Carnegie is 5.5%ABVwhich is lower than many examples of the style. Interestingly though, this beer is supposed to do well in “the celler” and is supposed to get better with a little age. I picked up a bottle, a 2004, a couple of months ago and put it in my beer fridge. This past weekend I wanted to BBQ some Baby Back ribs on the Big Green Egg and the D. Carnegie was calling my name. So, I pulled it out of the fridge and had it with the ribs. Let’s see how it tastes:
Appearance: The beer pours a very dark brown, not quite black. The head is an off white and slightly creamy. Lacing is pretty good, leaving a trail as you drink it.
Smell: Lots of roasted malts and toasted nuts (walnuts, pecans) greet you. It’s pretty close to a Stout actually. Hops are there but not real strong.
Taste: The taste is more complex than the smell. Vanilla, oak, and coffee are the predominant flavors. There’s also nuttiness, some chocolate, and maybe a bit of sweet smoke. It’s a medium to heavy bodied beer that coats the mouth when you drink it. Once again the flavor is close to a Stout but more complex. The beer finishes more crisp than sweet.
Drinkability: This is a very drinkable beer. The lower ABV along with the bit of hops allows this to go down smoothly. There is a nice aftertaste that is not bitter or acidic.
This beer is very good and does in fact go great with BBQ ribs. The aromas and flavors are smooth and mellow. Nothing stands out of place. This is the 1st five year old beer that I’ve had (intentionally that is) and I liked it. I don’t know what the optimal age of this beer is but 5 years was pretty good. It looked great in the glass, tasted very good with lots of nice malt and a bit of smoke sweetness, and finishes nicely. I’m going to get another couple of these and keep one in the fridge until its 6-7 years old to see what it tastes like. Check back in 2011 for the review 
Here’s the score:
1. Appearance- 8 points (out of 10)
2. Smell- 8 points (out of 10)
3. Taste- 18 points (out of 20)
4. Drinkability- 9 points (out of 10)
Total 43 (out of 50) Points -4 Mugs
Fresh it’s actually pretty nasty if you ask me,but as you correctly stated it really gets better with age.Really strange when you think about it,after all it’s only 5,5%.
I don’t know what age is the optimal,but the first vintage is1986(only in small bottles the first couple of years)&those peaked quite a while ago from what i have heard/read.
Skål!
Carnegie Starkporter,”stark” is swedish for strong as there is also a 3.5 ABV version. The number,1497, on the back of the bottle is not a batch number but an inventory article number used by the swedish governement alcohol monopoly company, “Systembolaget”.
.
http://www.systembolaget.se/Applikationer/Knappar/InEnglish/
The beer originates (1817/1836) from my home city, Gothenburg, in Sweden. The company “David Carnegie” was during a part of the 19th century Swedens largest company, measured in overturn, they also processed raw sugar. The brewery part of the company was in 1932 sold to the brewing company “Pripps”. Pripps brewerys merged into Carlsberg in 2001. The 2004 brew that you tasted was made in the small city Falkenberg on the west coast of Sweden.
http://www.carnegie.se/en/about/History1/
The old brewery building is today converted into a nice hotel.
http://www.novotel.se/index1.html
Peter
Formerly working at the Pripps Brewery in Gothenburg.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the information! It’s very interesting to know a little more about the history of this beer, especially from someone who actually worked there. Do you like the beer? What year do you think was the best? I will be getting some more of this to drink. I enjoyed it very much.
Thanks for contributing and I hope you continue to read the blog.
I liked the D. Carnegie. Mine was 5 years old, I can’t imagine it being good past 7-8 years. I was in the beer store last week and they had 2006 bottles, not the 2004 like I got only a couple of weeks before.