Festival London Porter

HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115

By dogmangunny;

A very dark bitter chocolate flavour. Looks like a stout. I like it.

Comments

  • HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115
    JohnBJohnBPosts: 11Member
    This was the first Festival kit which I've brewed and I've been really pleased with both the quality of the kit and the beer.

    For beginners, the instructions are clear and concise - there's none of the worrying 'what do they mean by this?'. Everything you'll need including hop pellets and a syphon bag are included. Brewing was fun and it smelled great when adding the hops after five days.

    Given the time of year I allowed 10 days for secondary fermentation and then left it in the garage for three weekls to condition. Brought up to 12 Deg.C the first bottled opened with a satisfying hiss and poured almost jet black with a long lasting dark beige head. Mouthfeel was firm, almost oily, and and it tasted as a porter should with hints of chocolate and coffee.

    I fear 40 pints will disappear too quickly so, although I mostly make extract brew now, Festival kits are definitely on my shopping list. Highly recommended.
  • HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115
    edited January 2013

    Here is a link to a great video review for the Festival London Porter, showing the making of the kit by Glenn at HomeBeerBrewery, check it out;

    http://youtu.be/2VsBsW9ZOm0

  • HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115
    image Very tasty premium beer!
    By homebeerbrewery from The Netherlands on 02/19/2013
    Pros: Very complete beer kit and great brew instructions!
    Cons: None
    Recommended: Yes
    Great head, foam is light brown and creamy.

    *Aroma: Strong chocolate, coffee and hops.

    *Taste: "Thick" body with lots of chocolate & coffee favours and some spicy notes. Good bitterness and long lasting pleasant after-taste.
    The alcohol is also present :-)

    This kit is more then only box with some malt extract, sugar and yeast. They provide also dry hop pellets, bottling (prime) sugar and a filter bag!

    Get yourself a kit! What a beer!
  • ajbajb Member Posts: 38
    I brewed this up in time for Christmas, due to various coughs and sneezes in our household only two bottles were consumed on the day, but I have to admit even though porter was not my kind of thing, this was a most satisfying of beers with lovely deep flavours, for a 6.2 abv it was very smooth indeed. 38 bottles more to go ! before I brew up some more or try another festival kit ! 5 stars
  • CelticTwilightCelticTwilight Member Posts: 29
    After initial fermentation completed on day 14, I split my first batch of Pride of London Porter into a 2 Gallon keg and the rest into bottles on the first day of May 2022. ABV: 4.5% which was slightly lower than I expected. With this being a premium kit I was a bit surprised to see from the video that it includes dextrose rather than a darker type malt but that didn't put me off. Also unlike the video there was no hop bag included with mine but I just popped the pellets on to the surface and when finished transfered via a handy funnel fitted with a filter that I got from HBO which removed all the floaters from the hops. A very useful piece of kit.

    I had never actually tasted Porter before so was going in blind. I always have a test bottle to see how a brew is progressing early. I tried this a bit too early after around 10 days which is the main reason why it was not pleasant - way too bitter/sour for me and I had only weighed in 1oz of the hops! Still half expecting that I was going to have to pour some of this batch away I tried the next bottle a week later with a mind to start freeing up some bottle space. Well this one was fantastic. What an improvement in such a short space which bodes well for future brewing options. Great head, texture and the flavours which other people have already described now more prominent but in a subtle way. The next one had already levelled off a bit but basically the same quality.

    I personally don't think it tastes that much like stout, variations of which I have been drinking since I was 16 but that wasn't what I was attempting or expecting anyway. This was an out and out bold experiment in a new direction. More dark roasted elements than burnt ones. It does go nice followed by an Irish Coffee though so maybe there is something in those comparisons that I will develop with time. And it also feels stronger than the ABV I quoted above too.

    The keg is now six weeks old which is about half way to the point I would consider starting to drink it. I am seriously looking forward to seeing how the draught compares with the bottle.

    Well I had my doubts but my first attempt at dry hopping was a success. I am over the moon with this batch, another addition to my collection of dark beers, will definitely buy again and plan to try others in the Festival range. Well done Ritchies. Cheers!
  • HBO_StaffHBO_Staff Administrator Posts: 2,115
    Fantastic, sounds like a real success ad was well worth experimenting. It would be interesting to see how you find the difference between the bottles and the barrel brew too
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