Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
Location: Greenwich, London
ABV: 6.5%
Version: 750ml bottle
Source: Sainsburys

I have to admit to still being a little in the dark with regard to the precise dividing-line between ‘porter’ and ‘stout’ (although I’m working on it… as often as I can). Meantime have thoughtfully provided a micro-site at www.london-porter.com, which includes a selection of rather fascinating articles on the origins and history of the porter style, but still nothing definitive on where that dividing-line lies. More research needed on my part, clearly…

Meantime London Porter (not to be confused with either Meantime London Stout or Meantime Coffee Porter) is the brewery’s flagship dark beer and they supply it in exceedingly generous 750ml wine-bottle portions. Now then, I’m a big fan of the 750ml approach, if only because it gives you longer to appreciate a particularly fine beer such as this one. You can pour yourself a full pint and leave a decent half in the bottle for an ongoing top-up, or let it breathe for a while and try it again as a stand-alone second helping.

Meantime London Porter is a beer that definitely warrants that second helping: it pours a rather lovely dark ruby red, with a thick, bubbly head and gives off enticing scents of liquorice and treacle. Strong coffee notes come to the fore, alongside more treacle and molasses, with that ever-present liquorice providing the lingering after-taste. The second measure has an even more richly complex flavour, one that demands to be savoured.

All in all, it’s a big bottle, full of a very big drink indeed. If a pint of Guinness is meant to be a meal in a glass then this one is something of a six-course banquet, complete with liqueurs and brandy to finish. But to come back to the original point: except for the higher alcohol content (and the larger bottle) I’m not entirely sure what the essential, key difference is between the London Porter and the Coffee Porter, or even the London Porter and the London Stout. I reckon I’ll just have to drop Meantime a line and ask the experts. I’ll let you know what they let me know in due course.

Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
Location: Greenwich, London
ABV: 6.5%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: The Vineyard, Belfast

Another dinky-sized bottle from The Vineyard, and another very fine beer indeed from Meantime. A dark ale this time, rather than a stout or porter, although my initial impression was that it was quite similar to the Coffee Porter that I’d sampled not long before.

The beer poured a rich, dark black-brown with a thin head and a faint effervescence. It seemed quite sour on first taste (although in an entirely enjoyable, green-apple way, I hasten to add) but then it followed up with a huge hit of sweetness that was almost cloying in its intensity. Judging by the blurb on the Meantime website they’re selling this one as a “dessert beer”, although I think it might actually go better with cheese and biscuits, to help take the edge off some of those sugars.

The chocolate elements seemed to be more distinct in the aroma than the flavour, although there was a definite mocha characteristic. Definitely much more Green & Black’s 80% cocoa than Cadbury’s Dairy Milk though, which is entirely right and proper if you ask me. I’m not sure that Meantime Chocolate is one I’d go for on a regular basis, especially given the rest of the Meantime range to choose from, but I’m very glad I tried it.

Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
Location: Greenwich, London
ABV: 6.0%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: The Vineyard, Belfast

I picked up the Meantime Coffee Porter in a batch from Belfast’s premier beer merchant, The Vineyard. On the advice of our very own Ed Ashby, I made a point of stopping off there for supplies when Jo and I were visiting friends in Northern Ireland in August. Weighing in at a dinky 330ml, in a mini-wine-bottle format, I consider this to be more of a taster than a full-length drink experience, but it still did enough to convince me that I’d be more than happy to re-visit a larger measure if I ever encountered one.

On the face of things, Meantime Coffee Porter does exactly what it says on the label, but there’s a deeper complexity to this strong, flavourful porter that makes it really quite special. It starts off with a big, big coffee nose, sure enough, but on the first sip I was tasting much more rich caramel and bonfire toffee. The coffee notes developed as the drink went on though, and by the end of the bottle (too soon!) they really were dominating the others and the after-taste was definitely espresso.

Overall, it’s a beer of huge, intense flavours and powerful character; one I thoroughly enjoyed. I might even be able to get away with a session on Coffee Porter, if I was feeling brave or foolhardy enough, but I rather suspect it would be better savoured as a bill-topper after a few pints of lighter London Stout.

Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
Location: Greenwich, London
ABV: 5.4%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Sainsbury’s

Very briefly on this one: I tried Meantime Winter Time back in January (I’m plumbing the depths of the notebook here) and at the time I noted a strong, rich, sweetness (“molten treacle”, apparently) that I vaguely remember was actually a bit over-powering. The reviews at ratebeer.com seem to unanimously agree that there’s a very definite coffee-taste to it, which I seem to have missed. I also jotted down “not very more-ish” (my tasting notes really weren’t up to scratch back then, were they?) by which I probably meant that it was an interesting one to try but not something I’d want to attempt a session on.

Anyhow, I think this was last year’s seasonal porter, but there’s no information about it on the Meantime website – something that I’ve been encountering with slightly irritating regularity this week – so if I find it again, I’ll be sure to grab a bottle or two and re-sample.

Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
Location: Greenwich, London
ABV: 4.5%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Sainsbury’s

The second of Meantime’s “London” beers that I’ve tried recently, their London Stout is – according to the back label – a reversion to “the original malt-only recipe”; one that recaptures the character of the sort of stout that was once brewed throughout the nation’s capital, in the days before “Pale Ales displaced Porters” and the focus of stout brewing “lived on in Ireland in its own distinct form”.

Quite obviously a reference there to the likes of Guinness, Murphy’s, Beamish and co., which – with the possible exception of bottled Guinness original, Guinness export et al – in this modern age tend to be industrially-produced, nitro-fuelled and served so chilled as to be rendered almost tasteless; at least by way of comparison to this little beauty.

Meantime London Stout is about the same strength as Guinness original, but I think it offers a lot more in terms of flavour and mouth-feel. It pours a very definite, opaque black, with barely a hint of ruby-red to it. The flavour – whilst certainly not over-powering – is a distinct mocha mix of black coffee and dark chocolate and the mouth-feel is wonderfully rich and silky.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s probably the tastiest, smoothest, easy-drinking (as opposed to strong) stout I’ve tried to date. So tasty and easy-drinking, in fact, that I nearly lost it to my Guinness-original-loving missus, who was sipping a can of draft-flow (or whatever they call it) at the time and was distinctly unimpressed with the latter as a result (which, of course, is what The Beer Nut has been telling us for years). I tried a sip of her Guinness-in-a-tin (purely in the interests of comparative research) and yes, it really did taste incredibly thin and watery by comparison.

So, back to the Meantime London Stout and to conclude: a very nice drop indeed and a great session beer as well, I’m sure. If you’re a regular stout-drinker then this is definitely one to buy in bulk and sup at will. I read on the Meantime website that they’re planning to launch an Imperial Stout at some point. I’ll be keeping a keen eye out for that one, I can promise you.