4 Pines Brewing Company usually portray the beaches vibe with their beers and marketing, a mix of softer, happier coloured labels adorning the bottles of their core range. That’s why this beer seems so different for them. Oaked Baltic Porter (of their limited edition Keller Door series) doesn’t give off the summer vibes like it’s counterparts, instead adorned with more of a wintery label (quite a stunner really), to match the beer inside.

Aged in French oak whisky barrels for six months, this is a unique drop. It’s got chocolate, oak, nuts, and dusty aromas, which all have a really nice balance. Chocolate with hint of vanilla and a spirit bite in the aftertaste are the dominant flavours. It also owes some sweetness to the malts, and has a medium bitterness. The flavours are well balanced, but the best bit about the mouth action is that it is so, so smooth! The flavour and mouthfeel combine perfectly, meaning there are no issues in slurping this down!

This is a real sipper of a beer. It’s strong at 7.5%ABV, and it’s so smooth, that you just want it to last longer and longer. It’s a great beer, but I think it loses a bit of balance. There’s a strong flavour in the swallow, maybe whisky, sweetness, or a combination, which sings a bit too strongly for my liking, and overwhelms the pretty awesome chocolate flavours which are the first I picked up in the mouth. I can’t let that take away from it though – this is a top tipple!

Drunk: from the bottle