This moderate porter doesn’t hit you over the head with chocolate and coffee overtones, just a few well chosen malted grains, simple ingredients that combine for soft-toned irresistibility. Brewery defunct: 2001.

Despite 7% alcohol heft, mahogany-hued moderate body maintains light port appeal as ethereal prune-raisin register, sour cherry proxy, and barren currant-grape trickle soak dry wood-smoked tone. Roasted nuttiness saturates caramelized barleymalt foundation and lurking dark chocolate-y maple sugaring infiltrates amiable Black Forest cake finish.

Murkily defined Baltic porter retains acrid dark chocolate malting over soured prune-raisin subsidy. Milky dark amber hue result of ‘mellow’ caramel malting, sweet honeyed molasses dip and mild fudgy creaminess. Barley-roasted mocha mildness puts this closer to brown ale than heavier porter. Too light and watery up-front, though medicinal-to-chocolate liqueur finish retains richness. More peculiar than unique.

Chalky mahogany-hued tan-headed Baltic porter with concealed 9.4% alcohol thrust mires candi-sugared lactose malting and sour chocolate blur with harsh hop char. Dry cocoa astringency, weak burnt caramel jot, and frail anise blot weaken earthen walnut-pomegranate trail, disrupting thin port-barleywine illusions.

Black as Texas gold, here’s a fab Finnish porter in a cozy 11-ounce bottle contrasting rich coffee bean affluence, sharp cola nuttiness and creamy sweet-sour chocolate milking against massive oily-hopped Blackstrap molasses bittering. Fudgy burnt caramel snip and recessive anise blot speckle ancillary ashen cedar char. Acidic port notes sneak by mossy bottom. Label accurately insists it’s ‘high gravity, bottle conditioned, strong, aging like fine wine.’ But its soft-tongued effervescence makes it go down easy. Fully formed though a bit abstruse and in need of better flavor specificity.

Sambuca-like hue and black chocolate aroma perk up bittersweet mocha malting and lingering coffee overtones to lasting creamy finish. A fine Texas find. Brewery defunct: circa 2006.

Metallic auburn hued porter finds early licorice dawdle fading to ashy malt smokiness and dismal leathery tobacco spell. Charred hop bittering obscures thin cocoa-vanilla creaminess, dried fruit quip, and black tea acridity informing shaky finish.

Distinguished prune-hued fruity porter links ripe tangerine-peach-melon tang to flaked chocolate dryness, coalescing for loud raisin-nut finish. Spicy hop bottom and herbal fringe swell upon third passing, seducing expressive fruitcake nuance. A tough find, though.

Precarious raisin-breaded brown-bodied porter pits cheap cognac sweetness against dry mocha, stewed prune, and chocolate liqueur illusions. Maple-sapped anise stickiness gets cloy, but hazelnut tease adds nice touch to earthen grain bottom and dried fruit finish. A bit light for its class.

Creamy Baltic-styled dry-bodied ebony porter offers deep burnt coffee bitterness to milky vanilla-chocolate richness, accruing black licorice snip to woody bottom. Dissipated chicory-espresso finish picks up chestnut-roasted barley toasting overwhelming luscious butterscotch snippet beneath surface.

Strong dark Polish porter aids sweet barleywine lead-in with favorable oncoming brown chocolate creaminess and thick maple syrup richness for truly original full-bodied peculiarity.

Creamy burgundy-hued chocolate-roasted porter blitzed by sweet sticky caramel fizz and hazelnut coarsening. Though lacking robustness, distinct barleywine subtleties and bitter hop tranquility outline prune-to-chocolate finish, nearly making up for overall watery softness.