We’ve tempered the roast character of the original with chocolate and crystal malts in place of some of the black: too much black malt can produce overly acrid, burnt and astringent flavours. Crystal malts bring a sweetness and fullness to the beer, and a bigger texture/mouthfeel. The main difference though is that our Export India Porter is hopped in the way we would hop our Pale Ales and India Pale Ales: lots of late addition hops for flavour, and we then dry hop when the beer is in the tank. We mostly use American hops for their intensity and fruity characteristics, but we like to experiment with the different flavours that arise when they’re combined with darker malts. Bramling Cross is our favourite for a more traditional British character, whereas Columbus works very well for a brasher, new world flavour. The result is a dark brown beer that promises coffee and cocoa, but then the hops bring lightness, brightness and fruit, and the relatively high carbonation - unusual for a porter - make it surprisingly refreshing.