New Glarus Unplugged Old English Porter
This beer was inspired by the writings of Graham Wheeler, a noted English Beer Historian.
Mr. Wheeler describes the original Porters as:
"... the least understood of the old British beers. The subject (of the Porter Beer Style) is complicated and confused because porter’s heyday lasted from about 1700 to the pale ale revolution of the mid 1800’s. During that time it passed through many transformations. Porter was simply a mixture of two brown beers. The only characteristic that set the porter apart from any other beer of the day was that porter was deliberately soured by adding a percentage of sour beer to freshly brewed beer. The original porters were not, as is commonly supposed, jet-black in colour, but a translucent brown. They had a rich, smoky flavor derived from the use of brown malt and a winey aftertang produced by the deliberate souring, highly regarded by Londoners."
Our interpretations is a Brown Porter based on the style popular in 1870’s London. It was brewed with mostly floor malted English malts including the famed pale ale malt, Maris Otter. A touch of smoked malt produced by Briess Malting Company of Chilton Wisconsin was also used. Half of the batch went through a souring fermentation, in the traditional way, to promote the characteristic wine-like acidity. Lastly the beer was aged on wood to extract sweetness from toasted oak.
Mr. Wheeler describes the original Porters as:
"... the least understood of the old British beers. The subject (of the Porter Beer Style) is complicated and confused because porter’s heyday lasted from about 1700 to the pale ale revolution of the mid 1800’s. During that time it passed through many transformations. Porter was simply a mixture of two brown beers. The only characteristic that set the porter apart from any other beer of the day was that porter was deliberately soured by adding a percentage of sour beer to freshly brewed beer. The original porters were not, as is commonly supposed, jet-black in colour, but a translucent brown. They had a rich, smoky flavor derived from the use of brown malt and a winey aftertang produced by the deliberate souring, highly regarded by Londoners."
Our interpretations is a Brown Porter based on the style popular in 1870’s London. It was brewed with mostly floor malted English malts including the famed pale ale malt, Maris Otter. A touch of smoked malt produced by Briess Malting Company of Chilton Wisconsin was also used. Half of the batch went through a souring fermentation, in the traditional way, to promote the characteristic wine-like acidity. Lastly the beer was aged on wood to extract sweetness from toasted oak.
3.6
308 reviews
New Glarus, United States
Community reviews
Unexpected extra graciously shipped by Stfun -- many thanks! To stemmed wine glass it pours a bleary chestnut hazy purplish auburn brown with a trim, sudsy off-white head. Aromas of fussels, and paint thinner, not much else. Maybe some chalk, too? This tastes tarted, slightly fruity, and sour. Picking up some charcoal, white wine lees, oakiness, soggy Camel ash, pickled sweet potatoes, and vinegar. I would recommend this beer, but it smells atrocious. Otherwise a decent sipper. Tastes a lot better.
Tasted in 2009 (backlog). Brown with an average off-white head. Aroma is rye, light vinegar, and roasted malts. Taste is cardboard, roasted malts, and caramel.
Bottle, courtesy Brigadier, thanks! Pour is ruby with an off-white head, excellent retention/lace. Aroma is tart, cherry, vinegar, light roast. Taste is quite sour, chocolate, cherry, vinegar. Palate is tart, slick, sour finish.
Bottles. I totally understood what they were going for with this brew and I think they nailed it, but it still isn’t really my thing. Very nice and well done for the style. I think I’m just a new world porter guy.
Bottle. Hazy brown color, tan head. Aroma of sour coffee. Taste is sour coffe grounds, cocoa, vinegar finish. Odd.
Sampled at WTWBA 2012, Brooklyn. One of the coolest beers I tried here, and a great recreation of a beer from history. The aroma is honey, molasses, sour, unmistakable brett. The appearance is a translucent light brown, light for the style really, light tan head. The finish is sour milk, fruit, coffee. The finish is sour, acidic, coffee. Quite good, and very interesting.
From the bottle. Classic English malt aroma, solid malt body, tastes like a really good porter with some added sourness. Very interesting and somewhat complex.
Originally reviewed: 3/19/12. 12oz bottle poured into a pint glass.
Pours a murky dark brown, with slight amber tints on the edges. Minor globs of lace stick to the glass. The aroma is musty and slightly sour. This smells like their Enigma, with faint old mushy fruits and oak. Glad I read the label before partaking in this, as I would have been thrown with this aroma.
The mouthfeel is moderately heavy with ample carbonation. Light funky flavor right away - old apples, raspberries, mild acidity. The first half of this beer finishes mildly tart as well. It’s interesting though, because the more I sip, the more pronounced the "actual" Porter flavors pull through. My final few sips were more roasted in character carrying a semi-sweet toffee flavor.
This was a very unique and special brew. One of the more complex beers I have had in quite awhile.
Raisins, raisins, raisins! This beer is definitely brewed in the tradition of the style as originally intended but veers strongely towards old ale/oxidized flavors with some sourness/malty notes on the backend. This was overpowering for all friends that I shared this with. Not entirely drinkable because of the lingering raisin note. Not a bad beer for this style but different than what most BA’s would consider a porter.
Multiple bottles, I think all of them from my good friend Matt. Thanks!
Deep rusty red-brown pour, with a thin creamy tan head. Graham cracker, strawberry, balsamic, and cocoa in the nose. Flavor is lightly tart, lightly sweet, and adds a wonderful earthy forest floor character to go with the soft acidity. Body is medium and creamy with lively carb. The beer finishes smoothly and leaves you with lingering notes of dark fruit, treacle, and soft aromatic wood. So very drinkable. Mercurial, odd, complex, and cohesive. It is a perfect example of why I find ’traditional’, old-world brewing methods/styles so exciting and endearing.
This beer pours a mahogany brown color with a one finger tan head. Nice lacing throughout the glass.
The smell on this one is woody up front with toasted malt, chocolate, toffee, and some sourness. Like sour fruit.
The sourness really kicks in a lot more with the taste. It’s the first thing you’ll notice. Not as sour as say a real sour ale but it’s got a bit of a vinegar like quality with some sour cherries. The ingredients I’m used to in a porter start to come through mid palette. Smokiness, toffee, chocolate, and some dark fruit. It’s than all washed away by the sourness. Definitely a different take of a porter, at least for me.
Mouthfeel is medium bodied, rich, and creamy. Goes down very easy. The sourness doesn’t get in the way of the mouthfeel.
12oz bottle. Pours a deep brown color with an off-white head. Aroma is malty, a little sour, dark fruit, tart cherry. Medium on the palate with soft carbonation. Flavor is sweet and sour, nutty, a little roasty, oak, with a tart, lactic finish. I really like the sourness in the beer and find it pretty refreshing.
12oz. Bottle: Got in trade from changeup45; THANKS Garry! Aroma of oxidation, malt, and some sour fruit. Poured brown in color with a tiny, tan head around the edges only. Clear. Full of small particles throughout. Not sparkling. Flavor is medium sweet and lightly tart. Tastes of oxidation, malt, chocolate, tart fruit, and some sugar. Medium body. Slightly dry texture. Average carbonation. Malt, sugar, oxidation finish is medium sweet and lightly sour. Clearly a bad bottle.
Courtesy of GT. Very dark brown pour with a thick, creamy beige head. The nose is pretty crazy- sour dark fruits, vibrant juicy grapes, wet wood, and a slight hint of butter. The flavor holds more vinous chocolate notes, with lots of vanilla wood, and toffee/ popcorn butter. Medium body with low carbonation, finishing slippery and sour. Really interesting and unique, but not quite up my alley.
12 ounce thanks to mattyb83. Slightly light body. Taste is sour stout, but without the stout. Some chocolate and a lot of raspberry vinegar. Very tasty.
Pours a nice pure brown. Nose and taste is of smoke, wood, and light malts. Not what Iwould normal expect to see in a parter, but upon reading the side of the bottle, this beer was intended to harken back to old county brewing style. I’m a fan.
(12oz bottle courtesy of Nuplastikk!). Pours a clear reddish brown color with thina tan head. Carbonation bubbles are small but active. Aroma is sour and winelike. There are also notes of chocolate, cocoa and dark fruit. Taste is sweet and sour-sweet chocolate and a sour fruit-almost like a truffle. Medium bodied with an oily texture. Tart finish. I’m pretty impressed with this-haven’t had anything like it before, including some of the newer sour stouts. It definitely has red wine/vinegar characteristics and some (raspberry?) truffle tastes going on.
bottled, thanks to SS, medium brown to amber color with no foam, aroma is typical English malt, caramel and metallic notes, flavor is sour , tootsie roll,. peat, finish is woody sour
Pours a nice proper color for style and on the clear side for a porter. Not much on the nose maybe even a little sour to acidic nose. A little sour over the palate but finishes nice with a tobacco slight cherry almost cigar like leathery flavor. Slight sourness but overall a very drinkable beer.
Reviewed from notes. Thanks to Barrythebear for this bottle.
Pours a dark brown color with a bit of an off white head. The nose immediately shows something different. I have to ask myself whether this is infected or whether the sourness was intended. After looking over BA and NG’s website, I can see it’s the latter. Really turned out well. Some roasted malt and chocolate plus some finely-tuned espresso and a bit of cherry. Bitter, slightly tart coffee and cherry notes come through in the taste as well. Good feel with the slight sourness. Great idea and well executed.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 10-29-2010
rerate
was able to sample another bottle: the exact same- putrid stuff .. the worst new glarus, maybe even worse than the alt .. if you are saving this, drink it now or play a mean joke on someone .. .
thanks to John for this, so this review pains me .. . Pours a murky dark tan, low foam .. . smell is of light tart cherry, wet socks, and stinky mud .. . thin, muddled and not at all enjoyable .. . i read other recent reviews about how this is starting to fade- this is long gone .. .
What’s limpid? As in, he gazed into her limpid eyes. L-I-M-P-I-D?
Most certainly a disease of the retina.
12oz bottle. Dark brown pour, little transparency and very little head. Aroma was a tad sour with hints of chocolate. Flavor held slight fruity qualities, mostly sourness prevailed. I don’t know if it was a bad batch or not, but I was a little confused by this one.
Bottle: Deep caramel, ruby hued, moderate head, foamy, light beige, spotty lacing. Not that dark for a Porter. Perhaps because this is an "English Porter"? Sweet vinegar/wine like aroma, muted roasted malts behind that. Interesting. Very wine like up front, slight vinegar, a little sweet and fruity, definite woodiness. Whats odd is the Porter, as I am so used to, is very subtle. I am actually liking this more than you average Porter. Tart, slightly fruity, a little vinegar or wine like sourness, with very subtle smoked/roasted malts on the backside. Very smooth, body and mouthfeel being fairly moderate. Yeah, I was thinking I would skip this beer tonight, but glad I did not!
RBESG 2010, Grand Tasting, bottle
Dark amber color. Breadish and chocolatey aroma. Breadish caramel aroma, with light chocolate, vanilla, sourness. Nothing special.
Pours deep brown/black with a small off white head. Aroma is strong sour wine with some roasted malts. A nice oaky aroma is present also. Taste is pretty much the same. The mix of porter and sour didn’t really work for me. The oakyness was nice though.
bottles from the brewery. drink this soon, some bottles are starting to turn downhill a bit. so i just couldn’t imagine that a sour porter would be all that good. sounds like someone trying to be a bit too creative but i was dead wrong. beautiful beer, amber brown with a light brown head, very small bubbles about two fingers high. begins very smooth and then the flavors explode on the middle of your tongue- English malts are balanced by tart sourness that is quite present but not puckering, has a bit of a tobacco taste. tangy and acidic finish that lingers and continues to develop. awesome beer. some of them are tasting more like a tart brown than a sour porter, which is not a bad thing but doesn’t have the beauty and complexity of this beer at its prime. if you have some, DRINK IT.
The beer pours a dark brown with little head. There is light tan carbonation, but fades quickly and has poor lacing.
The aroma is super strong and very malty. I get a little vinegar, toffee, roasted coffee and a little bourbon. Very complex and balanced.
The taste starts very sweet vanilla and toffee, then its very tart, and finishes a little bitter. The taste is crazy unique and complex, very surprising. Its very tart.
The feel is very light and watery.
Drinkability is strained by the uniquness, because its good but very strange.
Think of this beer as a sour chocolate bar. Very interesting and 5.0 on the unique scale.
Bottle in Iowa City hotel room. Red-violet appearance with an off white head. Roasty brown malty, slightly nutty aroma with a little hazelnut. Tart, roasty, hazelnut, dark brown malty flavor. There’s a touch of smokiness in the flavor also. Roasty, nutty, and sour- what a weird combination of flavors! Interesting but quite strange.
Sampled at The Stable’s Beer Lover’s Anonymous. This was my favorite beer of the event. So very interesting. It looks nothing like a modern day porter and is clear medium brown. A funky blotchy head. Sour aroma is vinegar, in a porter?! It has chocolate stuff going on along side of sour vinegar funky stuff. Truly a throwback from a previous century.
Received in trade from Davolebomb, thanks for the opportunity. Pours a deep garnet color with great highlights when held to light, smallish off white head dissipate to eventually form a cap on top. First whiffs tell me this one is different, more of a historical brew and reading the label confirms this. Smells very vinous with hints of vinegar, sweet lightly fruity malt, very little roast or chocolate left in this one. At close to two years old this one is not very porter like anymore. Taste is like dark bread mixed with vinegar and hints of sherry. Light smoke in the finish, but very little porter left here. Creamy tart and sour in the mouthfeel, medium body and level of carbonation. Certainly different, hard to call this one a porter, hard to judge this one. I enjoyed this oud bruin, I guess I’ll rate it that way.