Firestone Walker Reserve Porter: Officially called Walker’s Reserve, this porter is unreal from the first sip. There’s a lavish, velvety texture to it that inundates you with a complex variety of flavors. Notes of caramel and bitter chocolate are the easiest to find, but a deeper look reveals a hint of spice that leaves you with a fantastically dry finish. Despite its hearty character and intricate flavor, it is still in every respect a porter. Unlike extreme breweries that rely upon style hopping to make something unique, Firestone Walker manage to stay true to the style while still creating something genuinely fantastic .

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter: I’ve had to convince many a friend to try the Taddy Porter. My elevator pitch is, “It tastes like beer chocolate milk.” If someone isn’t excited by that premise, I don’t want to know them. The Taddy Porter is a classic example of an English porter. Brewed with well water, the Taddy Porter is sweet and satisfying. It doesn’t reveal flavors as layered and convoluted as the Reserve Porter, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a simple beer, for people who simply want one thing; an incredible brew.

In a Nutshell: Each fantastic in its own right, the SS Taddy Porter beats out the FW Reserve Porter for reasons far too complex to explain.

Verdict: I don’t know how to summarize this outcome. I love the Reserve Porter. I drink it with an ear to ear grin on my face. It’s wild, and different, while still being the exact beer I need it to be. However, I must choose the Taddy Porter, because unlike the Reserve, the Taddy Porter feels more like a drink for the soul, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me.

About the beer:

Left Hand Brewing Company is located in Longmont, Colorado. The name Left Hand was chosen in honor of Chief Niwot, Niwot being the Araphoe word for “left hand.” The Araphoe tribe often wintered in the local area.  Fade to Black Volume 2 – Smoked Baltic Porter is a collaboration beer done with Nørrebro Bryghus in Denmark. The beer is categorized as Baltic Porter. If you are unfamiliar with the style, take a minute and check out our beer profile for Baltic Porters.

In a nutshell:

Fade to Black Volume 2 – Smoked Baltic Porter from Left Hand Brewing Company is simply fantastic. This beer will leave your mouth coated in sweet smokey flavors. If we handed out trophies for our favorite beers I’d be mailing one out today.

Review:

Like the name would suggest this beer is black. Black black actually. Of course, porters are known for being dark in color, but this one would put many stouts to shame. Perhaps one of the first things that grasped me about this beer was the smell of smoke as it hit the glass. I quickly picked up on the smoky aroma along with the scent of burnt wood. In a way, it reminded me of a campfire as the smells are truly relaxing and perfect for these last few cold Boston winter nights. Upon taking your first sip your mouth will be coated in sweet smoky flavors. If I had to relate the taste to something I may describe it as slightly burnt toast. Now I know what you are thinking. “Burnt toast? No thank you.” Trust me here burnt toast is a good thing. Next time you are at your favorite craft beer store and see one of one these sitting on the shelf – grab it! I assure you that this one does not disappoint. I’d even go as far as saying if you aren’t a fan of dark beers then put your prejudices aside and give this one a try.

Rating: 5 out 5 – Drinker’s Choice

About the beer: Mikkeller Brewery from Denmark is out to excite Danish taste buds, break a few rules and inspire all around. With a mission like that, it’s no wonder they were named Danish brewery of the year during their first year and the fifth best brewery in the world, all in their first year of production. Their concoction on display for this week’s installment is the Chipotle Porter (known as Texas Ranger over on their home shores). Clocking in at 7.7% ABV, this beer is brewed with Chipotle chili peppers, and was brewed particularly for the Texan audience, though it can be found elsewhere in the states.

In a nutshell: Spicy with a milky mouthfeel, without a boozy taste. Fantastic, really.

Review: I’m typically a hop head. I typically dislike porters because they have a very unique boozy characteristic that makes me think the glass was lined with nail polish remover. You can imagine my surprise when I didn’t find that in this porter. The chipotle peppers add a nice spicy feeling in your throat a few seconds after drinking – not too hot, but just enough to make your mouth warm up a smidge. It has a milky texture, a chocolately aroma,  and a gorgeous reddish brown head. This is a beer that I’d have no problem recommending to my friends who like beers with a bit of a unique edge. I really hope I find this again. Man, just talking about it makes me miss it all over again…

Rating: 4 out of 5 – Must buy

About the Beer:

This week I have selected the Coffeehouse Porter from Berkshire Brewing Company out of South Deerfield, Massachusetts. BBC’s Coffeehouse Porter is an American Porter weighing in at 6.2% ABV and can be found in either a 22 oz bottle or on draft.

In a Nutshell:

BBC’s Coffeehouse Porter is a fantastically delicious beer with a rich dark roast coffee taste.

Beeriety Review:

Rating: 4 out of 5

Porter is a style that traces it roots to beer cocktails of the 18th century. Although the only modern beer cocktail that most people know is the Black & Tan, in centuries past it was fairly common to mix several beers in one pint glass. A bartender in 1720s London might be expected to blend frequently as many as six different ales into a customer’s pint. As we mentioned in our article on cask ale, (which is how all beer would have been served at the time) beer on cask should really be consumed within a few days after it’s been tapped as it begins to grow stale and loose its flavor rather quickly. of course not all pub owners followed these rules, and there was plenty of stale beers being served in London pubs.

Black & Tan

Additionally, many of the working class poor could only afford the weakest and cheapest of ales. As a result, many in the lower classes took up the habit of mixing half a glass of fresh, quality ale with half a glass of the cheap, stale stuff. A particularly popular beer cocktail at the time was known as “Three Threads,” which usually combined pale ale, new brown ale and stale brown ale. In order to save the bartenders some time and energy a brewer by the name of Ralph Harwood developed a heavier beer which was designed to mimic the taste of the “Three Threads” brew, much in the same way you sometimes see pre-bottled Black & Tans today. Harwood’s Entire, as it was known soon became quite popular after its release in 1722, particularly among the cities hardworking porters. It was only a matter of time before this style of beer, which was heavier and smokier than most beers at the time took on the name porter, which it’s still referred to today.

Porters later gave rise to stouts, a darker and more robust version of the style, which were originally known as ‘stout porters.’ Although the two styles remain closely related and similar in flavor, there are a few key differences that warrant the separation of styles, that’s a topic for another style profile though. Porters are typically made with pale malt base with the addition of black malt, crystal, chocolate or smoked brown malt, but as with many styles, there is a tremendous amount of leeway  in what many brewers will call a porter. Hops tend to be low in the mix, although American porters may have a moderate hop presence.

What’s your favorite porter? Next time you try one let us know what you think about it by tweeting your beer and adding the ‘#mybeer’ hashtag.

Hops are a vine-like plant known as Humulus lupulus (technically a ‘bine’ which I’ve never heard of either.) Hops happen to be a close cousin to cannabis, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to smoke them. The female variety of the plant produces small, green pine cone kinda things.

These hop cones produce a powder called lupulin, which contain certain acids which provide much needed flavor and balance to beer. In beer’s 4000 year history hops are a relatively recent invention, having only been used significantly for maybe the last 500 years. Prior to hops people used all sorts of spices and fruits to balance beer’s flavor but nothing has the flavor versatility and variety as hops.They also act as a natural preservative, something important in the days before sanitation as we know it.

In fact the IPA (or India Pale Ale) was born out of this unique quality of hops. During the British occupation of India brewers in England would overload their beers with hops to preserve them for the long ship ride to India. The folks in England took a shinning to the style too and the IPA was born.

Much like wine grapes, the flavor and aroma of hops vary considerably based on where they are grown and frequently a country’s beer style is strongly related to the hops that are native to it. The strong, citrusy hops which grow on America’s West Coast gave rise to the area’s intensely hoppy IPAs and Double IPAs. Regardless of where a hop is from though it can be counted on to give beer some spice and balance out the sweetness of the malt.

Of course some places are too cold to grow hops, like Scotland, and this is reflected in their beer style as well. Scottish ales are famous for their sweet and malty qualities, a result of the lack of hops available for brewing in the area. Try a Belhaven next time you’re out to get a taste of Scottish flavor.

Measuring Hops
The hoppiness of a beer is measured in IBUs or International Bitterness Units.

This is of course just a brief overview of how IBU varies by style; there are plenty of exceptions to these guidelines, but it should give you a good idea of how relatively hoppy your favorite beer may or may not be.