- Product Reviewed: Okocim Porter
- Brewed By: Okocim Brewing Co.; Poland
- Form Reviewed: Bottle; 8.1% ABV
- Style: Baltic Porter
- Originally posted to Usenet: January 20, 2000
- Added to the Tasting Notebook: January 24, 2000
Initial Impressions:
This is the fourth of the five Baltic porters that I reviewed for the purposes of sharing my impressions. I sampled the beers, roughly, in ascending order of strength; I further divided the tasting into two days. I started with Saku of Estonia, posted to rfdb 1/12. Following were Carnegie of Sweden, 1/14; and Sinebrychoff of Finland, 1/15. The second day of tasting included this beer, Okocim, and Zywiec, both the strongest of my flight, and both from Poland.
I've received several valuable suggestions for further "research" into this style, both in rfdb and in email. I will seek out Dojlidy, Kozlak, and Tyskie, among others, and one email correspondent has offered to ship some beers out from the former Soviet Union (can we still call it that eight years after the coup)?
Okocim pours nearly opaque in the glass, with a reddish-black translucency. The beer is capped by a very attractive dense, rocky reddish tan head. I'm not sure I've seen a head quite like this.
Nose:
The nose features several moderate aromas competing for attention, including a basic sweet maltiness, coffee, and, logically enough, toffee notes.
Flavor:
Okocim opens malty, deep, rich, but not at all cloying. This is an excellent expression of maltiness. The middle finds the coffee and toffee notes suggested by the aroma. These are cut off by an aggressive bitter finish with roasty astringency.
Final Analysis:
Of my small sampling of beers thus far, this is turning into a most varied "style". This beer is clearly the most stout-like of the flight, while the one that follows it (Zywiec) was remniscient of an imperial stout. Yet, on the other end of the scale, you have the earthy porter of Saku, the light textured roastiness of Carnegie and the straight robust porter expression of the Sinebrychoff. I eagerly anticipate getting my hands on some of the others.
This beer is the most interesting of the bunch so far. It features the multiple layers of flavor that I enjoyed in the Saku, yet it had more legs. A bigger beer all around, with a nice roast and a hint of alcoholic warmth, lacking the earthy graininess found in the Saku.
Rating:
(Excellent on my 5-star scale)
