At Birmingham District Brewing Company trying their Baltic Porter. Fortunate in getting to meet Jimmy, their Master Brewer here. Great talking to him about his experiences at Abita Brewery and in New Orleans learning his trade. Brewers love to talk about their trade and he is one of the best. Learned so much. Very light in color for a porter. An Amber red and clear. Sweet malty aroma. Thin, crisp texture. Flavor has a burnt amber malt, light bread, toasted caramel. Finish brings a very roasted, lightly sweet, toffee malt. Very good. Enjoyed this very much. However, it does not feel like a porter. More like a very deep Amber. But, it's a porter so I'll treat it as such. Definitely the clearest and lightest bodied Porter ever. But it's really good.

My first trip to Birmingham District Brewing Company. Very small and casual microbrewery. Almost St Patrick's Day so had to order the Irish Stout. Very low head on this 10 oz snifter glass. Mild roast aroma. Light body for a stout. Flavor brings forth a very modest amount of roasted malt and mild sour bitterness. Nothing sweet about this. Ends with a very dry finish. Sadly, I'm not impressed with this. Flavor needed to be stronger and the weak roasted malt was lacking any memorable characteristics. No point in having another of these.