...Colorado, Maine, New York, Massachusetts...

This porter season thing is a little overwhelming - sure it's a whole season but there's supposed to be snow by Friday and I gotta get on to the imperial stouts, old ales and barleywines...and winter beers...and Christmas ales. You know I want to give each beer the thought it deserves but I have to get moving on the stash, too. I should live with Stonch's rule:

If I reviewed every new beer I tried, this blog would be little more than a collection of tasting notes. However, when something really grabs me, I tell you about it.

But that only works when you can live the full Stonch lifestyle:

The landlord would only serve it in half pint measures. That sounds sensible, but didn't really help - I downed seven glasses with indecent haste. I reasoned that they were only 90p each, and it isn't often a beer like this is available from a freshly-tapped cask. Needless to say, it was a mistake...It's been a good weekend, but I am left feeling that single life can wear a man down. I think I might contact every girlfriend I've had since university and propose to them all. Hopefully one will accept and I can break this cycle...

Ah, youth. He'll settle down. He'll find the day will come after a hard day wrestling paper at the desk will end with thoughts of just that one porter with the perfect tang followed by a snooze on the sofa. Porter has that attitude as far as I'm concerned. It's a bit like the tawny port or or East India sherry of the beer world - a bit of an old guy's drink, a comfort food.

• Black Bear Porter: from Maine's Sunday River Brewing Co., the inland division of the more coastal the Stone Coast line. This one pours mahogany with a rocky light mocha head and an inordinate amount of floaty-chunkiness. Plenty of dry cocoa and dark chocolate in the malt with a good softness to the water. Mid-bodied with some chalky richness from the yeast floaties. Sort of a cherry-almond aspect under the cocoa. No real tang to speak of but a good weedy touch on the hops that is almost tobacco. 10% BAer disappointment but they cite thinness that has nothing to do with what I have in front of me.
• Gorges Smoked Porter: the 2006 bottling from the Ithaca Beer Company. More cola than mohogany in colour with a quickly disappearing head that resolves to a thin beige rim, as shown in the middle. Very smoky to the nose - oily smoked herring comes to mind...but only because I really like oily smoked herring. I have also owned an accordion - deal with it. Excellent as the rauch from Bamburg smoked malt is there in the mouth but so is plenty of rich fruity malt, making for a smoky richy BBQed meaty effect. I like the concept. A notch lighter in body than the Black Bear but still plenty of heft still. A high rating from the advocatonians.
• Black Shack Porter: another from Wachusett Brewing of western Massachusetts, whose brews I have liked. The lightest of the bunch - but still not thin - with an interesting flour, black pepper and cola thing going on under somewhat inconclusive dark maltiness. Quite particular when placed next to these neighbouring brews. I don't think I have had a black malt running to black peppery brew before. The food matching potential runs rampant. 94% BAer approval though the low raters are instructive.
• Gonzo Imperial Porter: Finally, a big big porter from Flying Dog of Denver Colorado. A lovely cream sherry wave hit upon popping the top. Deepest inky mahogany with a fine dark mocha head. At 9.5%, concentrate of porter compared to the other three. Like sucking pumpernickel soaked in a little chocolate syrup and a little espresso. Minty hops, a smoky touch and a cream finish. Thick. By far most BAers approve as they should.

None of these brews have the tang of a traditional porter yet none slip over the line to hoppier stouts either. Dark beef stews to chocolate desserts could handle these. They are all expressions of dark malt with their own twist - whether smoke or strength, malt fruit or pepper. Porter can handle those innovations where other styles whimper under it's challenge. Sad to pour away so much of this set.