Seven More Porters
I really quite like a porter and, what with the best part of the summer's heat now in the past, you can now contemplate taking on the layers of flavour these beers should provide. I have posted a bunch of posts about porters, everything from that macro-spawn
Labatt Porter that is still to be found in the deps of western Quebec to the ever loverly
Sinebrychoff Porter from Finland to the lucious
Smoked Porter from Stone of California. Check out
the porter archives for all of our related reviews. The collection above represents a summer's worth of gathering here and there, mainly at
Tully's of Maine and
Finger Lake Beverage in Ithaca, NY. Click for a bigger view.
- Geary's London Porter: This New England beer pours a deep mahogany under a fine mocha head fed by a moderately active carbonation. The water is soft and even chalky over which the beer builds layers of chocolate, biscuit, coffee, twiggy hops, graininess, licorice and plummy notes in tight tangy strata. This is a very quaffable ale due to the chocolate cake effect enforced by the creamy hop, moderate body and light 4.2% touch. Really appealing even if 6% of BAers are not content. The brewery speaks about the beer here.
- Tom Paine Original Old Porter: This one pours a lace leaving dark mocha head over mahogany ale. The first thing I think of is rummy, a good note of black rum. Maybe a little less complex - or perhaps just less tight - than the Geary's but with a notch more tang. It is opening up nicely over a bit of time. Chocolate and Christmas cake, cream sherry, dry fig and date. As well as good grainy rich biscuitiness. Again, moreish with the soft watery body. From Harvey and Son of Lewes, England. All the BAers love this one.
- Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter: Justin and Andy in the comments are not going to like this but I just do not share their dislike. This porter pours a quickly dissipating tan head over chestnut ale. A lighter take on porter by a notch with nut, cocoa and light smoke. This is really a rich brown ale or just a well-balanced smoked ale. No sour tang at all, too light in body and not enough complexity for my mind to be a porter. But no off flavours. I an quite certain I have far far worse beers. The brewer is not that helpful with background information and, as I noted, 5% of BAers are unhappy. You know, rename this something like a smoked brown and I think all would be happy - which is kind of sad if you think about it.
- Manchester Star: from J.W. Lees of Manchester since 1828 - or so the marketing says. This is the business. A tan head over mahogany ale. Pumpernickle, sour cherry, rough grain, milk chocolate and a hint of mild smoke all with cream yeast. Reminds me of East India Sherry. The body is big but no sense of the 7.3% at all with the soft water. A big sweater of a beer. Really lovely. 100% of BAers love it. Find it. Love it. Baste lamb in it. Poach salmon with it.
- Old Slug Porter: From the very excellent RCH Brewery, a slightly lighter take on porter but not as light as the Stovepipe above. Mocha head over red mahogany ale. Still rich yet hard to find a tang of any kind. Very presentable, however. Perhaps a shadow of smoke within the notes of dry chocolate - well more like choruses of chocolate. Also a slight juiciness as an upper layer over top that gives the effect of cloy cutting citrus peel without any particular fruit flavour. Cream yeast. and soft water. The body is boosted a bit by the texture of fine silty sediment, a dusting of cocoa. I do not taste the fruit noted at the BA where 2% have lost all sense of reason.
- Road Dog Scottish Porter: from Flying Dog in Colorado. This beer is a bit of a disappointment as well as, like the Otter Creek above, it is really a smoked brown. Chestnut ale under an off-white head that quickly resolves to rim and lace. Crystal malt sweetness and a note of smoke with a light but reassuring hop firmness. Chocolate and maybe a bit of lime in the hop, not unlike a note you get in Ithaca Brown but a lot more reserved. Some graininess in the texture. But no tang, no dried fruit and quite a fresh watery finish amking it a bit moreish which at 6.1% is a bit of a testament. Not a bad beer at all but hard to find the thing that says "porter" and not "brown." 8% of BAers do the thing that Lions liked but Christians did not.
- D. Carnegie & Co. Stark-Porter: Swedish. I have Swedes in the family. I have got a beer for a father-in-law of a brother-in-law based on an a conversation that went like "beer?" - "huh?" - "you know, ale?" - "err...ya-hoe! oool! ya - oool". Along with the dating of 2004, this is called starköl on the label and whatever that is, I like it. Mahogany ale with a massive mousse of a mocha head. All malt, a sort of oily dark malt. Grainy with masses of dried fruit, fig and date. Beer to drink with smoked herring with a framing hop that slides right up along beside your tongue and holds the whole thing up. A hint of the apple butter and even smoke that reminds of McEwan's Scotch and maybe a bit of the burnt raisin I noted in St. Peter's Winter Ale but without the licorice of Finland's Sinebrychoff. I like a lot. 97% of advocatonians approve.
Worthy beers but too much throwing around the label of porter as far as I can tell. But, as
Terry Foster points out in his excellent book,
Porter, the actual nature of this beer historically has long been a matter of confusion and conjecture so that a certain liberty and variation is to be expected.
Comments
Justin - August 17, 2006 8:25 pm
I am a big fan of Porters as well but I must say that the Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter to the far left of your picture is by far the WORST porter I have ever consumed - one man's opinion.
Alan - August 17, 2006 8:48 pm
I will let you know if I agree. I have never had it.
Knut - August 18, 2006 8:36 am
I find myself enjoying porters more and more, too.I am off to Gothenburg next week, for a few days of beer drinking with a bunch of guys at ratebeer. There will be a special tasting of Carnegie porters, as this has old traditions in Gothenburg. I'll see if I can make a report.
Andy - August 18, 2006 3:00 pm
Justin, I have to agree. Ottercreek Stovepipe Porter is absolutely terrible.
Alan - August 18, 2006 3:11 pm
Now I am really looking forward to this beer. But only 5% of BAers are with you guys.
Justin - August 22, 2006 4:15 pm
Alan, trust me when I say it is throw up in your mouth awful. It is the only beer I have ever not gone past 2 sips on. As a matter of fact I can't remember the last time I didn't finish a beer due to it's taste aside from the Otter Creek Porter.
Alan - August 22, 2006 4:20 pm
I do not doubt the strength of your experience but it differs radically from mine. I wonder sometimes whether perception of taste and the link to personal memory of an experience is a more powerful player in all this than we think.
Justin - August 24, 2006 10:53 am
Alan, I must agree with you that if you renamed this beer smoked brown all would be happy. I would still dislike the taste but at least it wouldn't be called a porter. Cheers!
Alan - August 24, 2006 11:15 am
Interesting. Let me go a step further. Do you like other smoked beers like that oily German one, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier? I thought I had a review around here but only our pal Chris's reference to it during a night out in Singapore.
Alan - August 24, 2006 10:58 pm
It's always over when the Swedish beer is poured.
Alan - October 18, 2006 11:04 am
As noted by Knut, the NYT takes on porters>/a>.
Aaron - October 30, 2007 8:26 pm
Yes, this post is a tad old - but, I just came across it. Since I studied in Sweden for half a year - and since it was the country where I first discovered (real) beer, I thought I'd clarify the meaning of "starköl," in reference to the Carnegie Porter.
Starköl: stark=strong/öl=beer......so, "strong beer" - its beer over 3.5% abv in Sweden. For some context, go to the following link and the "Regulation and Taxation" section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverages_in_Sweden