Scorched Almond Porter by Woolshed Brewery

This week’s beer marks this blog’s third trip back to Murtho, South Australia and Woolshed Brewery.  I’ve previously written about the equally excellent Blackberry Bambalam and Great Southern Trendkiller.  But I dare say this week’s beer might top them both.  It’s the fantastic Scorched Almond Porter.

As I’ve written about previously, flavoured dark beers are a bit of a fraught genre for me.  When done right, they’re some of my favourite beers full stop.  But all too often, some brewers try to be too clever for their own good.  One of my pet beer hates is ridiculous unsuited ingredients crammed into dark beers, counting on the strength and richness of the base beer to cover the worst of out-of-place flavours.

However, as this beer is being featured on the blog this week, you may have guessed that this beer does it right.  Scorched almond (aside from being a delicious treat) is an excellent choice for a complementary dark beer flavour.  And this is one well done beer.  It’s roasty and nutty and has just a hint of chocolaty finish.  And all of that blends perfectly with the underlying porter flavour.   Which is another key.  As much as I love a scorched almond, I don’t want a can of scorched almond cordial.  I want a delicious porter with some scorched almond flavour to it.  And that’s exactly what this beer does right.  The porter itself is delicious on its own, and the scorched almond is a perfect complement.  It’s deliciously rich without being too heavy.  And the whole delicious concoction leaves you with an awesome lingering roasty aftertaste.

Simply put, this is a really good dark beer.  I highly recommend giving it a try if you are lucky enough to come across one in your local bottle shop.  I’ve never been to Murtho, but I’m starting to think that once all of the craziness subsides a little bit, a road trip to visit Woolshed Brewery might very well be in order.  I’ve yet to be disappointed by one of their beers.