Porter House

Since my favorite kinds of beers are on the dark side, I am a fan of porter beers. Porters are like Stouts (think Guinness) but thinner and lighter. Therefore they are easier to drink than the aforementioned stouts. Since this is one of my favorite kinds of beers, I thought it would be good to sample two of this style and review them. I picked up both the Anchor Porter from Anchor Brewing of San Francisco (home of the Anchor Steam) and the Rogue Mocha Porter from the Rogue Ales brewery of Newport, Oregon at my local World Market store.

A note about World Market, they do provide the "create your own 6 pack" option, however it is more costly than the same feature at my local Fresh Market store. Although the World Market had a much better selection of beers to choose from. The sacrifices I make for research.

The first Porter up is the Anchor Porter from Anchor Brewery.

Appearance: The beer has a dark cola color with disappointing carbonation. I don't know if somehow I got a flat bottle, but the minimal carbonation lead to a very weak, quickly dissipating, tan head. In spite of this, the beer had some nice lacing.

Smell: The smell of burnt coffee, some chocolate and the slightest hint of cinnamon that I noticed closer to the end of the glass as it warmed up.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Like the smell, noticeable burnt coffee flavor with roasted malt and some chocolate. A slight lingering bitterness on the tongue was noted. Mouthfeel was heavier, but not stout heavy.

Overall: I will give this one an incomplete. I liked the taste, but I am convinced that I must have gotten a bad bottle due to the lack of head on this one. Porters typically yield a nice tan head, but this one did not. All in all, I liked it enough to give this one another chance.

For more information about this beer, please see http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/anchor_porter. Note the difference in appearance on the website compared to the above picture. I was gipped.

Now on to the other porter, the Rogue Mocha Porter from Rogue Ales of Newport, OR.

Appearance: Beer pours a dark brown/black color. From the bottle, a super thin, almost non-existent tan head quickly disappeared. Lacing was not very pronounced.

Smell: Main aroma is roasted malt, with some chocolate scent.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Roasted malt flavor with some burnt coffee. Hoppy bitterness that lingered on the tongue. Much more bitter than the Anchor Porter. Beer had minimal carbonation and a medium mouthfeel.

Overall: I don't know if it is something about getting the beer from World Market, but this one seemed flat also. No carbonation or head was present. The Rogue had much more of a hoppy bite than the Anchor Porter. It was not as smooth or easy to drink. I may give this one a try on tap somewhere, but not likely to get again in a bottle.

For more info on this beer, please see http://www.rogue.com/beers/mocha-porter.php.

Unfortunately I don't think I would give a big thumbs up to either of these beers. Maybe I just got 2 bad bottles, but neither of these seemed to live up to what I was expecting from other reviews or the brewery websites.

Luckily I am not discouraged enough to stop trying to find the good ones.

Cheers!