As good as it gets. Dark and smoky. Not too bitter and not too sweet. There's a bit of a "tang" to it that I can't describe any better. This beer can be aged for years too, though I doubt that I'd ever have the discipline to do it. Absolutely yummy. The best there is.

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(bottle) Didn't get much of a head with this one. Strong roasted malt aroma. Flavor was biased a little more towards coffee than chocolate, but malty sweetness was the primary flavor. Pretty good, but not great.

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(draft) A fairly mild porter that smelled and tasted of baker’s chocolate. No bitterness or coffee taste that I could detect, and I think that's a good thing.

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(bottle) I was quite impressed by this. An aroma that I can only describe as chocolately-grapey. A flavor that stayed with me from the time my lips touched it to the time I swallowed - in other words, consistently good. Quite yummy. I wish I'd had another one.

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(draft) Not a thing wrong with this beer. That's the first thing I thought of. No aroma to speak of, a mild chocolate flavor that was quite yummy. No bitterness at all. An excellent session porter.

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(draft) Very dark red, with a nice tan head. Smoky and malty aroma. Flavor very malty and smoky. Wow. Quite yummy. World-class, in fact. As good as I've ever had.

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(draft) Very nice. Chocolately and roasty and malty. If this was available near my home it would be one of my favorite beers.

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(draft) Black with nice brown head and incredible lacing. Fantastic aroma of malts and coffee and chocolate. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor very good, mostly with a sharp malt bite. Wow.

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(draft) Black with tan head. Decent lacing. Aroma of roasted malts and bourbon. Flavor pretty good, like an imperial stout. The bourbon shows up in the finish.

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(draft) This beer that I didn't care for a year ago has either been changed or (more likely) my own tastes have changed. I found this to be a very good porter, even with the slight bitterness to the finish.

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(draft) Black with nice tan head. Subdued aroma and flavor, of roasted malts and dark chocolate. Very smooth, and the alcohol is detectable only in the finish. Pretty good.

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(bottle) Pours black, with a minimal tan head that faded quickly. Light aroma of roasted malts and chocolate. Flavor was pretty much the same - roasted malt and chocolate. The finish was a little drying, but otherwise the 11% ABV is hidden very well. A very good beer.

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(draft) The first time I saw this, they were calling it "Smokey the Beer." What a stupid name. This beer tasted terrible for the first few ounces, then once my palate had been numbed enough, it tasted pretty damn good. A lot like their regular, nonsmoked porter. It's probably the same beer. Just a touch
of smoked malt, a little chocolate. I liked it.

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Color of dark hazy cola. No appreciable foam. A nice light vanilla aroma, and a very nice and smooth vanilla flavor. No undertones that I could detect. Finish was a little drying. Pretty damn good.

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(draft) Black, with a dark tan head. Aroma of mostly chocolate and roasted malts. Flavor chocolately and something else, something unusual. OMG, it's coconut! I'm allergic to coconut! So I didn't drink but the one sip. That one sip was actually pretty good.

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(draft) Took a long time to pour, but worth the wait. Very smooth. Nice chocolate aroma and flavor that reminded me of Young's Double Chocolate Stout. This is a very good beer. Yummy.

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(bottle) Cola color. Roaster malt and caramel aroma. Fairly thin mouthfeel. The flavor was of cola and caramel. Slightly dry finish.

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(draft) OMG.

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(bottle) Very dark red, with trivial head and lacing. Fairly strong aroma of malts and dark fruits and raisins. Mouthfeel very thin. The flavor was undetectable at first, but it later revealed a light touch of coffee and an even lighter touch of malts. Decent is probably being a little generous.

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(bottle) Black with thin tan head. Aroma of cola and roasted malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor same as the aroma, with a bit of a tingle to it. Good. I'd like to try this on tap.

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(draft) Looks nice, with good lacing. A fairly intense coffee/licorice flavor that didn't appeal to me very much. The high alcohol is fairly apparent. The second half of the glass tasted better to my numbed taste buds than the first half had.

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(draft) Very dark brown. Nice beige head. Subdued aroma of burnt malts. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor of roasted malts, almost acrid, but still fucking yummy. Maybe a touch of chocolate and licorice, too.

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(draft) I guess this place has gone out of business. Hmmm, I wonder how long this beer has been sitting in the keg. The first thing I noticed was that it was quite thin. Like water. It took me a long time to figure out how to describe the flavor. That's because there was nothing. It was all roasted malt. I think I'd have liked this better if it wasn't so old-tasting.

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(bottle) Black with a decent tan head. Incredible aroma of chocolate and smoke and grapes. Thin mouthfeel, a little watery. Flavor is good and chocolatey, but thin. No apparent smoke. A little disappointing, but still good.

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(bottle) One of the best porters I can remember having. Understated notes of coffee and chocolate. Roasty and yummy.

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(bottle) Black with a ridiculous tan head. Aroma of very roasted malts and nuts. Medium mouthfeel, with an immediate alcohol burn. Flavor a little subdued except for the burn. Malty and roasty. A touch of coffee and a touch of chocolate. Pretty damn good.

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(draft) Almost black. Good head, good lacing. A very faint coffe and hop aroma. There was a slight bitterness to the flavor and the finish. Not worth my time. Just barely decent.

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(draft) Black in color. Decent white head. Roasty cola aroma. Very well-balanced between coffee and chocolate. Pretty damn good.

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(draft) Smelled like snot, but that might have been because I was developing a cold. Served too warm for my tastes, and I almost never say that. A very creamy and smooth chocolatey porter. It contains more alcohol than I'd have guessed. I'd like to try this again once they get the cooler fixed.

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(draft) Black with decent white head and lacing. Light aroma of coffee and malts. Flavor like the aroma. Fairly light, bordering on bland. Finish is a little chocolatey. A decent beer.

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(draft) The color of dark cola. Nice tan head. Very noticeable aroma of chocolate and roasted malts. Flavor mostly subdued chocolate. Pretty good.

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(draft) Black with a nice tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and smoke. Creamy mouthfeel. Flavor same as aroma. Smooth finish. Quite good.

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(bottle) Almost completely black. Huge heaping head. Heavenly smoked malt aroma. From under the massive layer of foam, some chocolate notes rose and made themselves known. The mouthfeel is a lot thinner than I was expecting. Flavor is intensely sweet. Some smoke in the finish. After the first few sips, I became numb to the sweetness, and the overall balance of the beer became evident. Quite yummy.

Left Hand Smoke Jumper

(bottle) Clear very dark amber, with a medium-sized cream head. Aroma of chocolates and coffee. Medium mouthfeel. Flavor was surprisingly good, with hints of chocolates and roasted malts. The finish was quite dry - not because of alcohol, but because of the roasted malts. This beer is damn good, almost yummy, and I don't care who makes it.

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(draft) Black with minimal beige head that faded quickly. Aroma and flavor chocolatey and smoky. Both understated, but balanced nicely. Good, but could use more of everything. I was very excited about this new beer, so I guess it disappointed me a little.

Update: I had a small sample of a new batch, and it was quite sour. I didn't like it as much. Downgrading to simply decent.

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(draft) Wow! The regular Bob's 15B is decent, if a tad bland. The aging has transformed this into a fantastic beer. A dark brownish-red hue, very little head, some lacing. Very strong bourbon aroma at first that subsides about halfway though the glass. The thing I like most about this beer, aside from the wonderful aroma, is the nearly instantaneous finish. There is no aftertaste to taint the next sip.

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(draft) I didn't like this beer when it was first introduced, but they seem to have tweaked the recipe, and now I like it a lot. Malty and chocolatey. I will have much more of this, at least until they change the recipe again.

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What a scary beer! It tastes very good, with no bitternes at all, and just the right amount of carbonation. The scary part is that it's over 8% alcohol, and that'll sneak up on you real quick if you're not careful.

UPDATE 02/27/2009: Back after four years, the new version of Solidarity has 10% ABV instead of 8.5%. So, not quite as sneaky as it used to be. I still like it, just not as much.

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(bottle) Almost black with a decent tan head that faded quickly. Aroma is mild smoke and chocolate. Flavor is mostly mild smoke flavor. I really like this because there's nothing competing with the smoke. Pretty damn good. My second-favorite smoked porter.

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(bottle) I know I'd had this before, but I'd never reviewed it. As a Baltic Porter, it of course reminds me of my beloved Baltika 6. Dark and roasty and malty. Just a touch of alcohol burn at the finish makes me want more right away. Good.

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I'm sure it had some flavor and some characteristics, but I just couldn't detect anything after the stronger beer I'd just had. I'll be sure to give this a fair sampling when it returns to Rich O's.

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(draft) Very dark ruby-colored. No aroma. Nice head. A pretty thick mouthfeel, with coffee and licorice fairly well-balanced. Decent, but not worth my time.

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(draft) Probably the blandest selection that Rich O's Saturnalia has to offer. A bit of a chocolate smell and taste that's followed up by a very watery finish. Decent but not memorable at all.

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(draft) No aroma. Very faint coffee flavor. Very fizzy mouthfeel. Not very good.

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(draft) Pretty good. This reminded me of Bell's Kalamazoo Stout more than anything else. A slight slant toward the coffee side of the flavor spectrum as opposed to the chocolate side. The fairly high ABV is very well hidden.

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(bottle) I've never been a big fan of this brewery, and this beer did nothing to change that. A decent coffee flavored porter with the typical Sierra Nevada lagerish finish. It got better the more I drank, but it never quite reached the point of being good.

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Highly recommended to me by a coffee lover, so I was expecting coffee flavor to the beer. This instead has a good chocolate base to the flavor. A little extra bite at the end, because of the 7.2 ABV, that I could have done without. Good though. A little bitter

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(draft) With a name like Smuttynose, it has to be good, right? Right. A very strong chocolate aroma and flavor. Like the NABC Haggisdaddy Stout it reminded me of, this would probably be good poured over ice cream

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It was pretty good beer actually, not as strong of a smoke flavor as some of the other smoked porters I've had, but enough to be recognizable, and enough to be pretty good. I'll call it "smoked porter light."

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(draft) Of all the beers at Rich O's, this one is perhaps the one that's been recommended to me most often. Frankly, I don't understand all the hype. It is a good beer, but not a great one. I think my main problem was the gritty feeling I got in my mouth while drinking it. It almost seemed like there was something that hadn't quite dissolved all the way. By the end of the glass it was better. Other than the gritty mouthfeel, this beer smelled and looked fantastic, and it had a really good flavor - one that wasn't nearly as sweet as I was expecting. A very drinkable beer, but any place that has this probably has something better as well.

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draft) Clear dark amber. Light tan head. Aroma of roasted malts and chocolate. Thin mouthfeel. Flavor of coffee and licorice. Smooth finish. Decent, though I totally disagree with this being called a baltic porter. It's barely even a porter.

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(draft) That first taste nearly overpowered me. I still can't believe that this beer comes from a brewpub catering to the flavor-impaired masses. Very chocolately, very roasty, very delicious. One of the best porters I've ever had.

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(draft) Clear dark brown. Minimal tan head. Aroma of whiskey and oaky vanilla. Creamy mouthfeel. Mild flavor of malts and whiskey. No hint of rye whatsoever, and that was disappointing to me. Still good, though.

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Had a very strong roasted malt aroma. The flavor was quite nice with roasted malt and a mild chocolate. A dry finish that made me want to take another drink right away. Very good.

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(draft) Black with a tan head that faded quickly. Malty aroma. Thin mouthfeel. Decent flavor of malts and licorice. Disgusting hoppy metallic finish. Gross.

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(bottle) Very malty and sweet. There might have been some chocolate and/or coffee flavor under all that malt, but I couldn't be sure. Mouthfeel was creamy and sticky. Finished like it had a higher ABV than it really did.

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(draft) Black with minimal head. Light aroma of coffee and roasted malts. Mouthfeel fairly thin. Flavor same as the aroma, maybe a little burnt. Decent is all I can say here.

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