Bright Staircase Porter (5.7%)

Having just done the climb up Mt Bogong on the weekend, and knowing this brewer did a beer named after the track used to get up the mountain, I thought it appropriate i try this when i went into a great bottlo today (am sure to discuss this in later blog entries with shopping for beer). This beer poured dark with very little on the nose which isn't too uncommon for a porter. what little i can get in smell is slight cocoa and even a touch of alcohol (still, not as much as the brandy we drank while on the hike). I am not sure if it is just this batch or individual beer, but upon opening the beer, head started to come out the top, and while it has settled in the glass, everytime i take a sip it heads up in my mouth. I am finding the very hard to overcome to be able to taste the beer. It really is very difficult to taste this beer as carbonation takes over, and finding i have to sip so my mouth doesn't explode with foam. it does seem to be quite standard with a coffee/choc foretaste, but then as it slides over the tongue a chemical mid-palette appears with a dusty cocoa aftertaste. However, this doesn't seem to linger for long, and it not bad enough to make me not want to try it again (in the hope for something better). the carbonation level is so high i am feeling bloated after only a third of the beer, which again is quite disappointing. Like the walk it started with a lot of energy (head) but has become a very slow process as i continue along, with a need for periods of rest. there is also a lot of air/carbonation being processed. one difference is though that unlike a heavy pack, this beer does not sit hard on the stomach, which at least makes it easy in one regard to drink. The further i go along the stronger the chemical taste seems to become (or is it more just the carbonation?), which again only takes me further from enjoying this beer. In a final comparison I think like Mt Bogong, i will probably not be trying this beer again.

Beefy