Porter Beer Club

Porters

Tommyknocker Cocoa Porter

Starting off with Tommyknocker Cocoa Porter this one’s the first offering from this brewery. A: Dark black low amounts of head, little lacing S: Strong chocolate and roast in the nose some mild presence of grain T: Sweet chocolate up front mainly dominates the flavor, there is a hint of roasty coffee which fades quickly and gives way to lingering chocolate M: low carbonation, mouthfeel is on the thicker side and causes flavors to linger slightly D: Fairly high only thing holding this back is its sweetness.

BPA: 2.45

Flat Earth Cygnus X-1

Local brewery A: Dark black light white head quickly dissipates. S: Lots of roasty malt in the nose some slight sweetness T: Follows the nose closely and finishes with a dry sweetness M: medium carbonation nice clean finish D: High , especially considering the price point.

BPA: 3.0

Samuel Smith’s Taddy Porter

Turnbull’s drooling A: Dark, again, ivory colored head dissipates quickly S: Roasty, there’s a smell that in indiscernible to me, it is slightly boozy and tart, dark fruit? T: Is roasty and tart, more gain presence upfront, certainly distinguishes itself from the American counter parts. M: Low carbonation nice clean finish with some slight lingering fruit D: High, this one builds on itself and keeps you coming back for more

BPA: 3.37

FFF Alpha Klaus

Onto the big boys A: Guess what color? Yep black. Head is the darkest of the night at dark cream and also sticks around for a while. S: There’s certainly a hop presence in the nose there’s a hint of roast T: Hop forward, considering this is the first time tonight that anyone has said the word “hop” this one is out of style. Turnbull does point out that the bottle reads, “It’s not normal”. No arguing that. M: highest carbonation as well, which is good to clean the palette. D: Medium, the hops interfere with the drinkability as compared the other.

BPA: 3.17

Deschutes XXIII

An annual treat. A: Not even going to type it S: Chocolate, some nibs, and a slight booze nose. T: Follows nose, taste is complex and stout like it’s agreed amongst us . Barrel aging comes into play here as well and imparts a nice flavor and ends with a booze burn M: low carb, and thick taste definitely lingers D: Low but in a good way this was a nice sipper to be enjoyed.

BPA: 3.8

Breckinridge Vanilla Porter

A: I’m going to buy a thesaurus after this and look up black S: Very vanilla in the nose some slight roast T: vanilla sweetness M: med carb, slightly thick and lingering flavor D: High nice and sweet, fairly balanced and low ABV P.S. haven’t done this review justice because I’m playing catch-up to the rest of the group. OK now conversation has deviated, I will say as I drink this more the vanilla flavor gets to be a bit much, it is seemingly artificial and is probably too much a part of this beer that being said it is it’s namesake.

BPA: 2.78

Bonus Beer:

Lagunitas RIS

Written in invisible ink (squeeze a lemon on your screen in order for the entry to appear)

BPA: 3.2

Alaskan Barleywine

A: Dark amber, light cream colored head hangs around for a little bit. S: Pretty hop forward there’s a booze presence and follows with some sweet carmel and/or toffee aroma T: Follows nose hop forward, with strong malt body nice toffee undertones M: Lower carb and thicker mouthfeel D: Med, this one’s a sipper and a fine aging candidate.

BPA: 3.5