Hello, and welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimists,
Encoder Beers is a brewery that I am not too familiar with however after a bit of digging I find that they have an interesting backstory in which two brothers were talking to an elderly gentleman who told them that there was once a microbrewery in the tiny village which nobody had heard of. One year later, a stone’s throw away from RAF Scampton, Encoder Beers was born and thus the brewery themes all its beers around aircraft.
Over the course of the last seven years Encoder has brewed several award winning beers and in this review we take a look at their bronze medal winning Black Forest Gateau Porter called Limiter.
1. Name: Limiter
2. Brewery: Encoder Beers
3. Hops: Goldings & Sovereign
4. Grain: Malt
5. Aroma: Touch of bitter chocolate with tarte cherry & subtle sweetness
6. Appearance: Black/bordering on dark brown with no head retention. Slight light bleeding through the glass giving more of an appearance of a dark mild.
7. Body: Light to medium body. Perhaps expected more as the beer contains lactose.
8. Taste: Quite a tarte initial flavour with subtle chocolate notes.
With the brewery having an interesting back story and proudly displaying that they had won awards for more than one of their beers (including Limiter) and along with the very appealing can art, I was quite excited to try this, If I am being honest however it did not quite live up to my high expectations.
I have had several black forest gateau porters and stouts before but this has to be one of the most bitter in terms of flavour. Yes, it has the tarteness of the cherry and subtle chocolate notes but it just does not have that wow factor to make me want to go back for more.
It is not a bad beer but in terms of style and flavour profile there are far better out there. This is a shame as I was expecting more.
Our overall rating: 2.9/ 5.0
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