NB Baltic Porter Kit vs Zywiec Porter, Similarities and Differences

I have a helles lager in primary now, and in a few weeks I am going to rack it to secondary. I am considering purchasing Northern Brewer's Baltic Porter extract kit and pitching it on the S-23 yeast cake when I rack.

I had been thinking of a stout or porter, and the lager yeast and my general understanding of the style would make it a good next brew.

However, I've never sampled a baltic porter, so I went down to the liquor mart and picked up the only example I could find, Zywiec porter. It is chilling in the fridge now and I'll be sampling it tonight.

Online reviews for both the NB kit and Zywiec seem to be favorable, but I was wondering a) is Zywiec a good representative of the style?, and b) what are the differences between Zywiec and the NB kit, for folks who have experience with both.

Thanks for your $0.02 in advance.

I can't speak to how the NB kit is, but I do like Zywiec. However, if you can find Baltika #6 Porter, that is my favorite Baltic Porter and it's fairly easy to track down.
Just my 2 cents.
Also, from the BJCP guidelines here are few other classic examples, but I don't know how common they are in stores:
Sinebrychoff Porter (Finland), Okocim Porter (Poland), Zywiec Porter (Poland), Baltika #6 Porter (Russia), Carnegie Stark Porter (Sweden), Aldaris Porteris (Latvia), Utenos Porter (Lithuania), Stepan Razin Porter (Russia), Nøgne ø porter (Norway), Neuzeller Kloster-Bräu Neuzeller Porter (Germany), Southampton Imperial Baltic Porter

They did have a shelf full of baltic porters a few months ago; I remember seeing Baltika #6. But they rearranged their import section and the clerk said that Zywiec was all they had at the moment.

Oh yeah! Just sampling Zywiec now - I'm liking it a whole lot. Roasty, a little alcohol heat, chocolate and mild fruity notes. Pretty smooth, but this one tastes like it could have done with some cellar time. I'm liking it all the same. It's definitely the style I'm looking for.

I think I will pull the trigger on that NB baltic porter kit when my lager is ready to rack.

I like the Zywiec a lot, but I find it to be like a slightly roasty dopplebock. Most other examples I have had tend to be roastier, but this kit sounds like it is worth making. My dark beers usually benefit the most from some patience in the secondary or in the bottle and the year old baltic porter I am drinking now is no different.

svraines said:

I like the Zywiec a lot, but I find it to be like a slightly roasty dopplebock. Most other examples I have had tend to be roastier, but this kit sounds like it is worth making. My dark beers usually benefit the most from some patience in the secondary or in the bottle and the year old baltic porter I am drinking now is no different.

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That's my plan. This will my first "big" beer (north of 1.070) and I don't plan to touch the secondary until next fall at the very earliest. It's nice having a pipeline to help with my patience.

I just checked my lager and it is all happy, no diacetyl or off flavors aromas. I ordered the NB baltic porter kit and will brew it as soon as it comes in and pitch it on the lager yeast cake.