Porter House Pt. 2

On the heels of the last two Porters that I had being less than I was expecting, as promised I said I would get back on the horse. I did not know that it would be so soon. This evening, we had some family friends over for dinner. The friends have children on the same swim team with our girls and we have gotten to know them pretty well and very much enjoy their company. Even better for me, they like beer and the father is a home brewer. This will be the subject of a future post, I am sure.

Unfortunately due to his work, he was not able to come this time, however he did provide a fantastic gift of some hand selected beers. Having a blog about beer certainly has its rewards. The one that I sampled this evening was very appropriate for the smoked ribs that I made. It is the Stone Smoked Porter.

Appearance: Beer pours a black color with some red tint when held to the light. Three fingers of lasting tan head was a nice surprise. The last two porters I had were very disappointing from a head perspective. Light carbonation, however terrific lacing present. Seemed to linger for a long time.

Smell: Smokey aroma with toasted malt. Not as smokey as the LA 31 Boucanee that I reviewed in the past. I would have thought it to be more pronounced since smokey is in the name. Some chocolate aromas also.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Toasted malt flavor with a slight hoppy bite. Much milder than the Rogue Mocha Porter in terms of lingering bite. Did not last long, which I prefer. Some smokiness noted, but again, not tremendous. Beer has a heavier but creamy mouthfeel.

Overall: Finally a porter that had a nice appearance with head and lacing that was drinkable. Much better than the 2 from the last post. It did pair well with smoked ribs. For more information on this beer, please see http://www.stonebrew.com/porter/.

Was this beer really better than the last two or was it just the company and good times that enhanced the taste? I struggle with this sometimes. I have thought I particularly liked a beer in a certain situation, only to find out that it was the mood I was in that made me like it. This one seems to be a definite step up from the last two and having good friends over only served to clinch the win.

Cheers!