All About Beer Magazine

Beer Talk

Berkshire’s Drayman’s Porter

Available: MA

• Charles Finkel

  I received three dinner-sized bottles of Drayman's Porter and am, regretfully, finishing the last of them with this tasting. Black with chocolate highlights, the creme head is more beautiful than the best espresso. The nose is pleasantly odiferous, coffee and chocolate-like. Rich, earthy, delicious, wholesome malt is the heart of this medium-dry beer, also nicely hopped. Great with every dish we tried it with: asparagus vichyssoise, roast spring lamb loin, even (especially) dark chocolate.

• Michael Jackson

  The foam is the same color as that on a newly pulled espresso. The beer has a ruby-to-rosewood color. Firm, smooth body. Subtle, restrained fruitiness. Flowering currant. Berry fruits. Sarsaparilla.

• Stan Hieronymus

  The label says “fresh” and “local” and the image of a horse-drawn beer delivery wagon accentuates the point. Deep brown to black—though mahogany highlights decorate the edge—with a billowing brown head, this might look like a beer to age. But don’t think about it. The big chocolate, roasty nose hints of coffee and further suggests freshness, while perfect carbonation adds to the luxurious, sweet, chocolaty palate. More straightforward than complex, with just enough hops to accent roastiness again at the drying finish.