Bert Grant's Perfect Porter
Bert Grant’s Perfect Porter, a style of chocolate-brown ale, rose to fame during the 1700’s as a favorite refreshment of Industrial Revolution laborers including many working porters after whom it was named. Grant’s Perfect Porter is full-bodied and brewed with imported Scottish peated malt that enhances its delicious chocolate character with a pleasant, lightly smoky flavor.
3.5
239 reviews
Yakima, United States
Community reviews
Nice, serviceable porter. Good roasting and medium to full body. Chocalate malts. Refreshing and quite drinkable. Too bad she’s no more.
Pour is pretty much black with a thin tan head...smell is rich and smokey with lots of cocoa...taste is a tad smokey, but very chocolatey...a little thin...
In the bottle. I’m sad to see this go. Pours black with a dark beige head that remains throughout the beer. Aroma is of strong coffee and a bit of mint chocolate. Flavor supports a tingly first bite yielding to a malty sweetness. Chocolate flavor is well developed. Not super thick, but better than medium. This is smooth and easy to drink. Only fault I can find is a bit of a salty finish. This was my last one. Maybe I should have held onto this longer for nostalgia’s sake?
Cocoa porter-and then some. Lots of chocolate flavor makes it really good, and is also the problem.
06-Apr-06 (12 oz bottle: Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, CA) Well, one last time with this now-defunct beer, and a shame because it’s a pretty decent porter. Very chocolaty and moderately sweet, like eating a chocolate bar. Bitterness, hops, roast, these are all greatly subdued here, so the chocolate is absolutely dominant, but the mild smokiness in the finish is quite nice. More of the same in the nose: sweet chocolate candy, and probably moreso than the flavor. The biggest problem with this beer is that the body is a bit thin and watery, and thought I like the flavor, it too suffers from a bit of thinness. Mahogany in color with some transparency. Smallish, light-tan head settles to a ring. Despite some issues with body and one-dimenionality, this is still quite an enjoyable porter. But there is so much good beer out there, I’m not heartbroken that this one’s a goner.20-Feb-04 (12 oz bottle) It’s smells and tastes like drinking liquified chocolate. Very chocolatey, dark roasted malt totally dominates the flavor, but the nose is misleadingly sweet. Moderately bitter, but less than what is the norm for a Grant’s beer. The palate is very thin and watery, and carbonation on the palate is minimal. Dark brown in color and nearly opaque. Sizeable, tan head on the pour has good retention, but marginal lacing. (6, 4, 7, 3, 14 = 3.4)
It is a sad day that the best porter I have ever had, bar none, by far, has been reitired! What’s up with that????
From a stubby 12 oz. brown bottle with a blurb about the porter on the back label and no freshness date. Poured an opaque dark french roasted coffee color with a samll pale tan head that reduced to a thin lacing. Had a faint smoky aroma, coffee and semi-sweet chocolate. Moderate carbonation and a smooth medium bodied mouth feel, good drinkability. Had a burnt chocolate malt taste, a little sweetness and a soft hoppiness in the middle and a semi-dry sweet charcoal finish.
roasted coffee aroma. very dark with a beige head. coffee, milk chocolate, smoke. long dry chalky milky aftertaste. could use some more carbonation but I really like this because of the strong chocolate malt character.
Perfect porter pours black with a reddish hue. A thin, wispy tan colored head has it as well as roasted nut and chocolate malt aromas. Light bodied and softly carbonated with a watery texture.
A rich taste of chocolate and blackened malts . No hop flavors to be found here. A pretty nice dark ale
The aroma features chocolate, coffee, and sugar. The appearance is nearly black with a small but thick head that goes away quickly. The flavor is the same as the aroma (chocolate, coffee, and sugar) but with a little smoke and vinegar. The palate is not as thick as I had hopped. Overall it’s not bad and for a beer it’s about as close as you’re going to get to a mocha latte. The only thing I don’t like about it is the astringent aftertaste.
Bottle from Kevin. Usual dark body with a thin ring of bubbles. Nose-smells like an old cardboard box that once held chocolate candies. Taste-spent coffee grounds, grapes, sharp flavoring hops, thin chocolate milk, musty cardboard finish. Not bad, but not perfect.
Typical porter appearance with an inch-high tan head. Nose is immediately enjoyably rich with malt tones of coffee, chocolate and a feint smokiness. Mouthfeel is on the light side and oily. Flavor starts out nicely with above described attributes but then becomes overwhelmed with peat malt that makes the flavor stale, acrid, and pungent. A good attempt, but too much peat (i.e. in overrated Laphroig scotch) destroys depth and character.
Pours a almost black with just a faint red. Aroma is of coffee and malt with some hops. Flavor is of roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, and a little smoke.
marble black with an orange head. smell is dusty marshmallow, apple, and cocoa. bitter chocolate flavor. watery mouthfeel. this is thin. all chalky bitter is wrong tasting, like a bitter cauliflower. this is not the perfect porter, mediocre porter, yes, perfect, no.
Very little to no head that pours a carmel color. The body of the beer is a very dark brown, almost black. A nice coffee aroma combined with a smoked barley. High carbonation but a very nice and smooth finish.
The aroma is a rich maltiness with hints of smoke. The color is deep black with a creamy tan head. The flavor is a pleasent dark chocolate with hints of smoked roastedness.
Pours dark with a thin tan head. Lots of cocoa; some maltiness coming through. A decent porter all around. Too bad they just went out of business (again!).
Bottle: Huge cocoa aroma, Light roastiness is there, but it’s burried behind the cocoa. Pours a dark brown with hints of orange around the bottom of the glass when held to the light. Moderate off-white head diminishes quickly. Flavor is almost all slightly watery cocoa with a light roasted coffee in the background. So much cocoa that it’s overbearing.
from the bottle. poured brown with a nice sized tan head that left some nice lacing. aroma brown sugar, bittersweet chocolate, roasted malts, caramel. flavor chocolate covered cherries, malt, sugar honey. enjoyed this beer nice and smooth with a nice mouthfeel too it.
Black pour, almost no head. Very nice aroma for a porter. Chocolate and vanilla come out the most, but also some coffee and roast. Flavor is like lighter chocolate. Very smooth drinking. After having this brewery’s IPA and ’Imperial’ Stout, I was skeptical of a lesser porter, but this one turned out to be superior to each of those easily.
Not quite perfect, but pretty damn good nonetheless. Looks like a porter should: dark with tan head. Silky. Chocolately. Peat-y. I don’t know Bert Grant but I feel as though I should thank him for brewing this fine beer.
12 oz bottle pours black with ruby highlights and a very nice creamy tan head that lingers and laces well. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, a bit of nuts, and a touch of hops. Flavor is quite roasty but oh so chocolatey sweet with some nice roasted coffee mixed in and a nice bitter finish. The palate is creamy and smooth and not to thick but just right. This is a great porter. I truly enjoyed it.
Pours black with a light colored head that didn’t last, neither did the lacing. Aroma is of chocolate. Flavor is strong with sweet chocolate, coffee and malt. There is some bitterness in the flavor as well. This porter is a little watery. I would have expected a fuller body given the strong flavors. Otherwise a very tasty brew!
Pours brown with a tan head. Aromas of chocolate and caramel dominate initially before giving way to some decent nutty undertones. Tastes of chocolate, grass and some smokey notes. Well balanced and very drinkable.
Glad to be able to rate this, thanks Santa!, haven’t seen any of the Bert Grant beers in years out here, but they were a staple back in the dark days before micros really took off. The porter is deep brown, decent head, attractive. Great aroma, a balance of chocolate and coffee. Flavor was similar, with a tiny touch of smoke as well. Nice bitterness on the finish. Suffered a bit with a thin mouthfeel unfortunately. A little thicker malt and it could be a fantastic beer.
Perfect it is not. Certainly a strong chocolate aroma and taste, but ultimately thin in the delivery. Slightly sweet, little bitterness. Extra carbonation as well.
Sweet chocolate melds nicely with soft notes of roasted coffee bean and vanilla bean in the nose. More vanilla milkshake in the body, which is disappointingly watery. Cola-like mouthfeel further detracts from this porter. A fuller body and more velvety mouthfeel would vastly improve this, bringer it closer to being "perfect."
Pours near black with ruby hues and a mostly diminishing tan head. Aroma of roasted barley, dark chocolate, toffee, and a hint of molasses. Taste is heavy roast and slightly bitter graininess. A bit of hop spiciness shows up in the finish, balancing out the malts. Mouthfeel is medium bodied but this ends up feeling somewhat thin. A mellow and enjoyable porter.
Ruby brown color. Nestle chocolate milk aroma, with sweetened coffee, mocha and light coca cola. Yikes, this is awfully sweet, like coca cola with chocolate flavoring. Dreadfully awful with a harsh, brisk mouthfeel and light cocoa, smoke and coffee but all very subtle. I’d write further, more concise tasting notes, but I can’t stand this stuff.
Black color with a sweet coffee aroma. Fizzy mouthfeel at first, but that slides away to a watery feeling. Very sweet. NOt nearly as perfect as it claims.