Einstok Icelandic Toasted Porter
By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food
Strength: 6%
Brewed: Akureyi, Iceland
Named after the Icelandic word for “unique” – Einstök Brewery is located within the fishing port of Akureyi, 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Boasting some of the Earth’s purest water, flowing from rain and prehistoric glaciers through the Hlíðarfjall Mountain and ancient lava fields, which allows the brewery to craft some truly brilliant beers. With three beers available from their core range, including a truly remarkable white ale, pale ale and a toasted porter.
Brewed using Bavarian hops and a combination of lager malt, chocolate malt, and Munich malt, Einstök’s porter also features the addition of some authentic Icelandic coffee. When poured from the bottle, a dark, black coffee coloured medium-full body is topped with a tan head that’s quick to dissipate, unfortunately given the beer’s slightly creamy texture. The taste, however is very pleasant. On the nose, the beer is relatively gentle, offering gentle notes of anticipated coffee teamed with smoky, toasted malt, orange peel, licorice sweetness, and a faint hum of dates. As for the palate, what’s most prominent is the exceptional balance of flavours, delivering a bitterness that leads into a relatively sweet finish that makes for an extraordinarily easy drinking porter, although exciting enough – the flavours aren’t aggressively overwhelming aggressive. While more of a warming, winter drink; Einstök’s Icelandic porter seems perfect for the impending barbecue season, boasting a flavour profile that will work in gratifying harmony alongside a plethora of smoked meats.
Further information on Einstök Brewery, and their distributors, can be found at einstokbeer.com.
