East End Smokestack Heritage Porter

Brewed by East End Brewing Company
Style: Smoked
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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On tap at Capones. Poured a dark brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of chocolate, somke, roast, and some nuttiness. Tastes of chocolate, somke, roasty, and nutty. On the slightly sweeter side. I have a 1 liter of this and am curious to see how it compares.

Poured a nearly opaque black color with a small, tan head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of smoked malts, burnt wood, roast, nuts, and a bit of cocoa. Taste of bitter dark chocolate, roast, smoked malts, and a dry finish. Oily mouthfeel.

Tap at Capones. Pours a deep black with a small head. Aroma of light smoke, chocolate, caramel and nuts. Flavor of smoked meats, chocolate, hefe yeast esters, caramel and nuts.

From the bottle. Pours dark brown with a smooth khaki head. Meaty and smokey nose, like sausage or bacon. Hints of chocolate sweetness find their way through the roast and smoke. Finishes dry and slightly mineraly through a lighter palate. The smoked malts give a dry woodiness to the finish.Overall really well done, the smoked meatiness of this was delicious.

A solid pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a fat-two-finger thick, lightly browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is a black color with a touch of rich brown to it and is almost opaque except for a few ruby flashes of color if held up directly to the light. The aroma is a satisfying mix of smoke, toasted malt and dry biscuit-like aromatics. Towards the finish is noticeable some light, roasted grain notes that add some coffee like aromatics. I can’t get over how rich and malt the nose is; the smoke is here and ample, but it melds with and even accentuates the rich, dark malt character that is naturally here in the nose. This has quite an enticing nose to it.

Somewhat light bodied up front, the beer picks up a touch of heft to it in the middle, but still remains a beer to be quaffed. The beer starts out a little colder than I might have liked (probably close to 40°F / 4.5°C), but it is still quite flavorful. Up front this has a rich chocolate note to it that quickly takes on a combination of rich smokiness and substantial toasted malt character. Rich browned malt character and the savory smoke character combine to make this quite a meal despite not being overly heavy. This does pick up some creamy texture as the beer warms up. Each sip finishes with the roasted malt character coming through; it adds a touch of burnt acidity that dries things out just a bit as well as some black coffee like roast character and a burnt graininess. There is a touch of fruitiness here, that is at times quite noticeable, but at others not so much; this reminds me a bit of burnt, sweet plums or burnt raisins. The roast character adds a bit of burnt-bitterness to this beer, but there is also a pine-like hop bitterness to this beer. As the beer warms up the texture just gets richer, more full-bodied, but still is quite drinkable.

This is a great beer to drink a liter bottle of. I can’t be happier with the two beers I have had from East End and to be honest I don’t see how they can get any better than this (someone prove me wrong). Just a great beer; full of flavor, yet quaffable enough to enjoy a couple glass over an evening. The smoke really is at a perfect level here, tons of rich malt character is still able to come through, while the smoke character just boosts the flavor and richness of this beer.

1L bottle. Pours a rich brown color with a nice tan head that has good retention and lacing. There is a very nice smoke aroma to this beer, backed by a bit of chocolate malt. The smoke shows up slightly in the flavor, only problem is that that’s about it. This beer is not very complex, but does have a nice sweet and roasty malt character, just not enough to compete with the smoke. The mouthfeel is too thin, it was almost watery. Overall not a bad beer, just not something that I will hunt out in the future.

1L Swingtop Returnable Bottle: Aroma of dark malts, roasting, light smoke, bamburg wood, and a bit of chocolate. Nice woody smokiness to the scent. Poured very dark brown/black in color with a small, off-white head that lasted around the edges. Opaque. Not sparkling. Flavor is lightly sweet and light to medium bitter. Tastes of dark malts, roasting, light chocolate, bitter hops, light smoke, spicy bamburg wood, and toffee. Medium body. Dry, chalky texture. Average carbonation. Malty, chocolate, smoked wood finish is chalky and a bit dry.

1 L bottle, via lukin013. Pours a clear dark brown body, mostly opaque, with a one finger fizzy beige head that fell to a partial covering. Nice fairly aggressive smoky nose full of campfire smoke and some chocolate malt in the background. The flavor strikes a nice balance between tha smoke and the Porter. A good bit of slightly ashy campfire with light bitterness, nice chocolaty and roasty finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with an almost creamy texture and moderate fizzy carbonation. Overall, this doean’t have as much depth as some other Smoked Porters, but it’s enjoyable and has enough smoke to satisfy me.

(1L bottle, thanks lukin013) Cola brown body topped by small beige head. Aroma is smoky, some ash, light chocolate, caramel. Taste is medium sweet, caramel, smoke, some chocolate, cola. Medium body, light stickiness.

Bottle share by lukin013. Cloudy brown colored body with a small tan head. Has a mild chalkiness to the nose, some light smoke, some chocolate malts, and very faint roast... the smoke is mild, similar to the level found in most smoked gouda... it’s flavored like dough and cheese, but the texture is somewhat ashy and coarse with some dried wood and roast in the finish. Decent beer.