99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Baltika #6 Porter

Winter has arrived, and it is time to pour a dark, rich, complex, warming beer. For $1.99, you can have 16.9 ounces of that, in a beer that has its origin in pre-revolution Russia. Baltika #6 Porter is one of the best beer values I've ever found.

Baltic porter is derived from Imperial Stouts, which were brewed by the English for Imperial Russia. Imperial stout is a bigger, stronger stout, and baltic porter is a bigger, stronger version of English porter, brewed in countries like Finland, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania and Russia. Because cold temperatures are easy to find in this region, baltic porters are cold-fermented lagers unlike most other porter styles, which tend to be ales.

Baltika porter pours almost black, with a tan head. The aroma tips you off that you have poured something different. There's malt, chocolate, caramel, dark roasted coffee, port wine, leather, and more. They should make a cologne out of this stuff.

The flavor is all that, plus sweetness. It tastes a bit like the raisins that get baked on top of an oatmeal cookie, verging on acrid, but rescued by sweetness. Hidden in all that flavor is 7% alcohol, which makes it a nice warming beer for a cold winter night.