The sweet, almond taste of amaretto combined with the malty smoothness of a porter should be a match made in heaven, but unfortunately this misses the mark.
Brewed in a traditional London porter style with copious amounts of demerara sugar to help create the sickly-sweet sugary flavour or amaretto, North Riding Brewery's Amaretto Porter is a little lacking in actual amaretto flavour.
It is a solid porter and it does come in a 500ml bottle which means it does have a lot going for it, it just doesn't taste like Amaretto which is a real shame.
The aroma is initially malty, with a little bitterness to it. The pour is thin, not uncommon in a porter, with a body that matches making it quite a light beer.
The texture is smooth but quite one-dimensional, with the light body struggling to convey any real sweetness or any of the almond flavours that are associated with Amaretto. A slight metallic tang is the first flavour, with a little earthy maltiness that's almost nutty coming in once the metallic flavour fades.
Towards the back of the profile there is a sweetness that is distinct from a regular porter. This gives it a more unusual aftertaste that combines a slight sweetness with a dry, bitter aftertaste. It's not unpleasant, and it's not a bad beer, it just doesn't really deliver in the amaretto stakes.
Big, brown bottles and 500ml measures of beer is one of my favourite ways to consume it, it really gives you a bang for your buck when you feel the heft of it in your hands.
The label is typical of all North Riding Brewery beers, with their vat-style logo adorning the entire top to bottom of one side of the label and the beer name sideways.
The back is pretty straightforward, with a list of ingredients and the brewery information occupying the space. There's something quite nostalgic about the brown label on the brown bottle that gives it an edge somehow.
Fancy trying this one yourself? You can head on over to Yorkshire Craft Beers and get a bottle of Amaretto Porter for £3.30 - along with a whole other range of North Riding Brewery's beers.
