“Drake’s Black Robusto is a deep, dark “Robust Porter,” a beer style known for being darker, fuller-bodied, and stronger than a standard Brown Porter. Each pint goes down smoothly with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and slight roast from Crystal and Chocolate malt. A touch of spicy, herbal hop character from Willamette hops balance out the finish. Enjoy a pint, and now a bottle, with dark lingering satisfaction.”
Glassware: Tulip.
Appearance: Black with soft brown tints around the edges. It forms a huge four finger head that gradually settles to a thick overlay. A thick smattering of lace is left clinging to the glass as we imbibe.
Aroma: Big, roasty and dark with a delicate emphasis on this cold drip coffee note. Lovely dark chocolate, molasses, roasted malts, liquorice, woody spice, vanilla, tobacco and some light floral hop notes on the flank. We won’t go as far as to say that it’s complex but it’s certainly well layered.
Flavour: She comes on quite creamy with chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, liquorice and roasted malts in support. A touch of boozy warmth marries up with a mild hop bitterness in the middle. It continues with a light coffee roast, chocolate and toasty malt that finishes dry and rather bitter.
Mouthfeel: Creamy and somewhat frothy which is surely in part due to the lifted co2. Medium body with the 6.3% ABV kept at bay.
Overall: Not bad. To be honest we don’t understand how it has scored so well on RateBeer. Yes it’s a tasty porter but there’s many more that would beat it.