O’Hanlon’s Original Port Stout

ABV: 4.8%
Origin: Whimple, Devon, England
Website www.ohanlons.co.uk

Originally published in BEER October 2007

O'Hanlon's Original Port Stout

Lovers of the darker side of brewing had cause to smile at the results of this year’s Champion Beer of Britain competition – not only did a dark mild emerge as supreme champion among the cask beers, but three of the four medals awarded in the Real Ale in a Bottle category, including the gold, went to a handsome trio of stouts.

All three are smooth, dry stouts with the bite of roasted barley, designed at least in part to fill the sizeable hole left by the sad decline of bottled Guinness. At the inception of CAMRA, standard bottled Guinness from the Irish giant’s Park Royal plant was one of only five British-brewed bottle conditioned beers.

Park Royal is now flats and business units, and the bottled Guinness “Original” brewed in Dublin for the British market is pasteurised, a pale shadow of its former self in character if not in colour. But if you’re a former Guinness drinker still wallowing in nostalgia and despair, one of these superb beers should soon snap you out of it.

O’Hanlon’s has a name well-suited to a brewer famed for dry stout, but though co-founder John O’Hanlon has Irish roots, the brewery itself started at Vauxhall, London, before being transplanted to rural Devon, where it’s since blossomed into one of Britain’s best speciality breweries.

Original Port Stout, which began as a cask speciality, is no stranger to CBoB success, having previously won gold in 2003. Allegedly based on a Dublin hangover cure, this year’s champion bottle conditioned beer adds a twist by dosing a good dry stout – made from Optic pale, crystal and caramalts, roasted and flaked barley and Phoenix and Styrian Goldings hops – with Ferreira port at the rate of two bottles per barrel, roughly equivalent to two teaspoons per litre.

The result is a very dark ruby brown beer with a creamy yellowish head and a fresh chocolatey and malty aroma that brings to mind a German dunkel, but with a spicy, fruity and winy note. The rich fruity palate has geranium, treacle toffee and slightly peppery herbal flavours.

True to style, a distinct roast flavour soon emerges, and hops supplement the roasty dryness in a smooth winy finish with late bitter chocolate and a hint of cedar smoke. The port isn’t an empty gimmick – it enriches and complements an already superbly made beer with subtle wine and fruit notes.

For more Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain winners, see next post.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ohanlons-original-port-stout/11452/