Style: B.A. sweet porter
Brewery: Dugges
Origin: Sweden
Size: 33cl
Alcohol: 8%
Price: 55kr
Systembolaget: 32354
This was brewed last year and then aged in recently emptied bourbon barrels along with vanilla. This was released in September 2023 and is a one-off brew. It was the last beer I bought in for the tasting as the beer I meant to originally was out of date by the time it had arrived from Systembolaget! After I tried it, I realised it had some unwanted stale tones, and I wasn’t prepared to serve it to my guests. After a quick browse over the website, I ordered this, and luckily it arrived just a few days before the tasting. I think this was an adequate replacement, yet I would say it was probably the weakest beer in the tasting for overall performance.
This poured with a dark brown to black hue as you would expect for the style, with a mocha colour foam forming on top when poured. The aroma was a nice blend of vanilla, oak, dried fruit and a little licorice. The alcohol was quite noticeable as well. Upon sipping, the taste was pleasant, but it felt slightly thin, which I didn’t expect as it’s an 8% barrel aged porter. The taste was similar to the aroma, with the dried fruit balancing with the oak, toffee, roasted malts and cocoa powder, but everything did feel just a little too light and dare I say a tad watery. The carbonation was medium to low, and the aftertaste left a roasted note on the palate, but not much else.
I thought this was OK, but it didn’t set my world alight, it must be said. I think if I had this beer in another tasting it would have shone through a bit stronger, but this tasting was so full of great beers that it felt somewhat of a let-down. It wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there are better dark beers produced by Dugges that are more worthy of your time.