This dark porter has a thick, creamy head, and an aroma that hints at chocolate and smoke. The flavor is just a touch more on the burnt side than I was aiming for, but the mouthfeel is absolutely delicious and smooth, with a rich, malty, slightly chocolatey aftertaste. The licorice doesn’t come through at all.

Ingredients for 5 Gallons

4# Golden Promise
4# Brown Malt
1# Crystal 40
0.5# Smoked Malt
0.5# Chocolate Malt
8 oz. Maltodextrin
1 oz. Northern Brewer (8%) (60 minutes)
1 oz. licorice root (60 minutes)
1 oz. Target (10%) (10 minutes)
1 teaspoon Irish Moss (15 minutes)
Nottingham Yeast

Mash schedule: I used a single-infusion mash for this one, with 10 quarts of strike water at 170F. It sat for an hour in my picnic-cooler style mash tun, and then I sparged twice with 9 quarts of 170F water.

The O.G. was 1.054.

Next time I’ll reduce the smoked malt to 0.25# and double the licorice.