Meantime Brewing Co's Greenwich Winter Spiced Porter Beer Review

I think this will be my last winter warmer beer review of the year, I know sad times right, but hopefully I'm leaving these beers behind on a high. Greenwich Winter Spiced Porter is brewed exclusively for Marks and Spencer by Meantime Brewing Co. I don't usually shop and M&S but I won a £10 voucher so bought four of their beers, this is the second one I've got round to drinking and reviewing. Meantime are a London based brewery who seem to be doing alright for themselves. I'm not exactly sure why they are brewing speciality beers for M&S but I assume the money is good, and it gets them in a lot of stores.

The beer comes in a nice wintery 500ml bottle, so it's a nice substantial size, none of that 330ml rubbish here. I feel that I should own up to really loving winter warmer beers from the start so I'm expecting great things from this. The alcohol content is a pretty weak by winter warmer standards 5.5%, but I guess it's about enough to warm your cockles on a winter evening. Greenwich Winter Spiced Porter pours a very dark, almost black purple with an initially thick tan head which sadly fades really quickly. To be honest it looks like most porters, fortunately I like porters, so no complaints from me there.

The aroma is spicy with plenty of cinnamon and a fair few malts, but it's one of the weakest smells I've ever picked up from a winter warmer beer. Sure the essential ingredients seem to come through, but it feels like there's less of them. This is a little concerning. I love winter warmer beers because they have a really unique taste in the beer world, they're full of malts and spice, and all things nice. I do hope Meantime Brewing Co haven't gone half hearted with this, if any beer should be full of hearty goodness it's a winter warmer beer after all.

The texture is about what it should be, it's heavy, rich, and full bodied. The taste is good, but sadly it matches the smell. The overriding flavour is cinnamon, which is good, there's also nice spices, like a good spiced rum, and there's a sweet malt taste, so it's all good. However it's not great. I want the tastes to be stronger and the spices to linger. If a really good winter warmer is like snuggling under a nice thick blanket on a cold winters day this one is more like snuggling under a thin sheet. Sure it helps, but you want more. I can't help but compare this to Hatherwoods Winter Special at half the price in LIDL which is a taste sensation. Meantime's Greenwich Winter Spiced Porter is a very nice, pleasant beer to drink, but it just feels half hearted so I can only give it 6.5 out of 10.