1850 London Porter

I'm depressed and cold and irritable and so I'm having a beer. This is one of the several beers I've done based on information from _Old British Beers_. This is based on Whitbread's London Porter from 1850. It's been in keg for around 3 weeks.

It's pretty much jet black with a generous, retentive head. The nose is all about coffee and roast character. The mouthfeel is sublime--very oily and dense. This is more highly hopped than the last two historical dark beers I've made (an oatmeal stout and another porter). It probably needs a little more time to round out, but I like the slight raspiness of the finish as it currently stands. While it has plenty of roast grain character (in the form of black patent), this has a strong foundation of brown malt which provides much of its depth of character. It's quite nice now but needs time--I'll try to be patient.