D. Carnegie & Co. Stark Porter

1998 bottle, sampled 20AUG03:
Another case where the lack of carbonation would so greatly improve my marks of this otherwise very nice Baltic Porter.

Barely anything of a hiss when I pooped off the bottle cap. Poured this rather aggressively, but could never raise even the most minute of heads on this beer. Disappointing, in that regard.

But all the other classic components of this beer are still intact, including the toffee-and-coffee aroma, roasted almond front-end, dry middle, and delectable finish. Slight astringency when all is said and done, but not necessarily in a negative way.

I've heard rumors that this beer is going by the way-side, if it hasn't already. If that is indeed true, that would be a shame, to say the least. For even with the blown carbonation, this is far more interesting than most beers from Sweden, IMO...
//TB