The interesting thing about Original Flag Porter from Darwin Brewery in England is a blurb on the label: "Brewed with 1825 yeast salvaged from a sunken vessel in the English Channel using an original 19th century recipe." Wow, that’s cool if it’s true… but I have my doubts. I can believe it was brewed according to an old recipe, but the yeast? Sounds a bit like a marketing ploy…

However, it’s a very good, drinkable porter, quite like I imagine an historic English porter should be like. Pity I can’t find more details about it on the Darwin website…

Appearance: Dark brown/black with red tones when viewed through light. Barely any head; what little there was dissolved into a white slightly sudsy-looking ring.

Smell: Blackstrap maltiness, sweet syrup in the background. No hops…

Taste: Classic porter; smooth, sweet, low bitterness but with a bit of black malt astringency. There’s a little lactic sourness, maybe. Very low hops, if I can even taste them at all. Very drinkable!

Mouthfeel: Light-medium. Nice body, lighter than I would’ve expected, but not thin or watery at all, very smooth.

On BeerAdvocate: 85 out of 100 with 100% approval. On RateBeer: 3.57 out of 5, in the 87th percentile. Very respectable scores on both sites. And a very respectable beer. Like I said, I imagine this is pretty close to a classic, historic porter style. Definitely worth another look.