My wonderful wife made brownies tonight for dessert after dinner. So, when I looked in the beer fridge, the Fuller’s London Porter looked awfully good. Especially when the front of the label says that it is “rich, dark and complex.” The back label says “Fuller’s London Porter is an award-winning example of this historic English style; smooth and creamy with delicious chocolate and coffee flavors derived from the roasted malts. The Griffin brewery in Chiswick, London, has been brewing find als since 1654. The Fuller, Smith and Turner partnership, dating back to 1845, brews an excellent range of award-winning ales, many of which are available in the USA, including London Pride pale ale and the world’s original ESB. I hope you will enjoy trying all our fine ales.”. It comes in an embossed 11.2 oz bottle and says it’s 5.4% ABV.
It had a nice creamy head which faded to a creamy ring around the top. The color was dark black, but I could see some Ruby notes when held up to the light. It had a nice roasty malt aroma, a bit like black patent malt.
The body was light and creamy, and I first noticed the sort of black patent bitterness. The bitterness gave way to a chocolaty finish, and the chocolate taste continued long into the aftertaste. I didn’t pick up much of a hop flavor at all.
While I wouldn’t consider it tremendously complex, it had a nice mix of malty bitterness and chocolatiness. It did go very well with the chocolate brownies my wife made and I think it would compliment other chocolaty meals. Overall, it was a fairly decent beer.
