Ummm, porter

So the Crepuscular Porter has been in the keg a few weeks and it has come out fantastic.  Its a bit darker than I anticipated - I was expecting a dark nut-brown, but instead its  as dark as any stout.  But that aside, its otherwise exactly what I was hoping for.  In many ways, it has exceeded my hopes.

This porter pours with a thick, creamy head, that does the "Guinness thing" where bubbles of beer appear to move downwards.  This quickly subsides into a thinner, but long lasting head that leaves strands of Belgium lace down the sides of the glass.

This head overlays a brew with strong malt-notes, that has hints of nuttiness and coffee-like roastiness.  Unscarred by any hop aroma, the slight fruitiness of the British ale yeast is detectable among the strong coffee and nut aromas.  The smell is so enticing that I have, on occasion, almost forgot that I'm supposed to drink it.

Every sip of this beer is heavenly.  It is silky on the tongue, with malty sweetness nicely balanced by subtle, but noticeable hop bitterness.  Despite the (relatively) large amounts of darker malts, there is no detectable astringency.  This beer featured light chocolate malt - a rarer malt that is slightly less roasted than conventional chocolate malt.  The impact of this malt is profound - while the beer still has a dark colour, the usual in-your-face roasted flavor and its accompanied astringency is missing.  In its place is a mellow, and entirely pleasant, nuttiness.  It makes for a much smoother and easy-drinking brew.  This mellow nuttiness, combined with this beers modest body, means that unconsciousness, not a heavy stomach, limits how many pints one can quaff in a single sitting.