8 Wired The Big Smoke Smoked Porter

Salivating at the thought of another product from our new found 'zealand heroes, 8 wired.

Ignore Dave, it was his birthday. Which isn't as wrong as it sounds. Perhaps we should nickname him 'big smoke' from now on?

.. anyway,

Quite effervescent out of the bottle this - it's fizzy, which seems a little odd for a porter. I didn't find it too troubling in terms of mouthfeel though. Black as nero, develops from an initial smoky flavour through some hop characters to a dark chocolate finish. Pretty lovely on the whole.

I like the balance of this beer. It seems reasonably easy to make a beer that tastes like ham ham and more ham - and I suppose that's something in its own right too. But you generally tire of it pretty quickly too - this seems more drinkable in the long run but perhaps compromises itself to those wanting a straight line version of either a smoked beer, or a porter.

Good but not great. 8.0