A porter brewed by a winery? How curious!
Curious indeed.
Here’s what their website says:
We are not only England’s leading wine producer but also one of the UK’s most exciting drinks companies.
Produced in Kent using grapes from our own and partner vineyards across the South East of England, Chapel Down creates world-class Traditional Method sparkling wines and a range of still wines and craft beers.
With a mission to surprise and delight, Chapel Down has quickly gained support from leading chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, as well as great Institutions such as The Royal Opera House, The Donmar Warehouse, Festival Hall and The RAC Club! With an impressive array of international awards, Chapel Down is striving to push the boundaries in English wines and beers and we invite you to be a part of it.
For more on that you can always go to their website here or follow them on twitter here.
And here’s what they say about the Curious Porter:
English Porter matured with oak. This Porter has been brewed using chocolate malt and we use classic English hops including Bramling Cross and Challenger. We mature the beer with winemakers vanilla oak chips to give a gentle softness and balance to this naturally bitter beer.
My verdict?
I was excited to try this one, as I love a good, dark beer. On the initial pour, I was disappointed by how quickly the head disappeared. Colour is rich and dark, as you would expect from a porter.
I’ll give this the benefit of the doubt when it comes to flavour. It may have been a little on the cold side when I first tasted it, and all I really got was a kind of roasty or coffee type bitterness. There wasn’t much else to say about it, and not a lot in the way of aroma either. I sipped slowly to allow some time for the beer to warm. This didn’t do much for the aroma, but the flavours did open up somewhat to allow a little hint of vanilla through, although the oak was still lost to me. On the tongue it was a little thin, I thought, and had a little too much fizz for a porter, but not by much.
Overall, I’d drink it again if someone bought it for me, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find it myself.
Have you tried the Curious Porter?
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