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Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter


 Percentile 
50
overall
A Porter brewed by
Shipyard Brewing Company

Portland, Maine USA

bottled
available

on tap
unknown

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 Ratings  Average  Score  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in  Advanced 
163.11/5.03.07/5.0-17.7English pint, Stem glass P  Stats

Commercial Description:
Praying Mantis Porter....Dark But never brooding CT's State Insect ! First Introduced as a draft favorite at The Hartford Brewery Limited (CT's first brewpub, 1991-2000), and made to the original specifications at the Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland Maine. Praying Mantis Porter joins Arch Amber Ale as the second traditional ale in the Hartford Better Beer Company's portfolio. CT's Original Brewpub Beer is now available statewide in CT in 2 flavors and in 6-packs! Appearance and Color: Deep and Luxurious black cherry-red, long-lingering lacy head. Aroma: You're in for a treat. Toasty-smooth, a hint of silky roast malt that doesn't overwhelm the mild fruit nose. Flavor and Mouthfeel: Starts witha full smooth and malty tone, with a touch of a citrusy hop influence. The roasted chocolate malt flavors fit perfectly between "dark" and "milk" chocolate - not too bitter and not too sweet. Eventful balanced maltiness is complimented by delicate and mild hopping and the medium (not thick) body. Aftertaste: Subtle fruity finish, pleasant dry roasty aftertaste. Applications: Intertwined with the history of the industrial revolution, properly made Porters are hearty and satisfying beers for hard-working people that are nonetheless "session" beers - meant to be drunk in quantities. Praying Mantis Porter overwhelms with complexity rather than with quantity of flavor. Mellow enough on its own, but heavenly food combinations abound: with seafoods (especially shellfish), hearty cheeses, chicken dishes or a fine steak. Tastes great after dinner or with a cigar. Temperature-wise, the flavors of Praying Mantis Porter work best when acclimated to 45 degrees or so, just below cellar temperature where the malt flavors begin to stand out, and then blossom as you progress through your pint. There's no hurry. Recipe and Brewer's Notes: The water chemistry provides mineral flavor and body to complement the complex malt and hop ingredients that are drawn from the best of European and U.S. Pacific Northwest strains and sources as well as the time-honored process of traditional brewing techniques. The mineral factor influences the key brewing steps: mashing, sparging, boiling, fermenting and conditioning. Imported from England, the malt bill includes 2-row Pale Ale Barley Malt, Chocolate Barley Malt and a touch of Malted Whole Wheat. Hops include Willamette, Cascade and Tettnang. With its distinctive flavor imprint, the lively Yorkshire-origin Ringwood culture (a top-fermenting "ale" yeast) is used to ferment the beer. The Hartford Better Beer Company is founded by Phil Hopkins and Les Sinnock. Trained by Shipyard Brewing Company's Master Brewer Alan Pugsley twenty years ago, we then brewed and served over a million fresh and frothy pints of beers like Arch Amber Ale and Praying Mantis Porter at our brewpub using the exact same brewing process and ingredients as at Shipyard. Praying Mantis porter............it'll take your head off Contract brewed by Shipyard for the Hartford Better Beer Co. www.hartfordbetterbeer.com

 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 jimhilt (1469), Bow, New Hampshire, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/517/20
Sep 2, 2008  
Explodes out of bottle and leaves a five+ finger light tan head that fades slowly, leaving a good lace. Totally black color. Good carbonation and medium-heavy bodied. Roasted coffee nose. Flavor is sweet roasted coffee/chocolate, well balanced, decent porter. $1.50 for a 12oz bottle from Manchester Wine and Liquors Manchester, CT


 hellbilly (940), scottsdale über alles, Arizona, USA
1.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
4/104/53/102/56/20
Jan 7, 2008  
bottle BB may 08 courtesy of dragonstout...nice dark brown pour with a monster tan head. aroma is dark malt, cream, allspice, wood and sour fruit. dang... it’s infected. the flavor has some recognizable good qualities to it...mostly wood, coffee and chocolate in the aftertaste. but something went horribly wrong with this one. a definite sourness gets in the way of tasting anything else. watery mouth feel and lots of stingy carbonation. it doesn’t taste terrible if you don’t know it’s supposed to be a porter.


 5000 (2401), Hardened Liver, Washington, USA
3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/56/103/512/20
Jan 1, 2008  
<b>Bottle</b>: Deep brown, nearly black, large frothy light beige head, falls quickly, spotty lacing.   Airy milk sugar like aroma, slight roasted malt.   To me appears to be one of those Porters that is light on everything, and severly lacking.   No real roasted malt character to speak of.   Light roasted malts on the tongue, but very pale, thin, watery, and lacking in depth.   No real body to this one.   Spritzy, lactic, even a touch of sourness.   Body and mouthfeel are average, er barely.   Pretty boring overall, nothing at all interesting.   Too thin, spritzy, sour milk, and lacks the roasted malt depth one associates with the style.   Blech... Thanks <b>John</b> for the bottle! <br /><br />


 argo0 (6289), Washington DC, USA
2.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/55/103/510/20
Dec 29, 2007  
&#40;12oz bottle, best before end 5/08&#41; Large beige head atop clear mahogany body. Aroma is medium sweet, licorice, lactic sourness, light raisin. Taste is medium sweet, roast, some anise, earthy/orange, spice. Light-medium body, light effervescence.


 DragonStout (1225), Orlando, Florida, USA
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/104/56/104/514/20
Dec 25, 2007  
Thanx to JJPM for this.Pours a dark brown with a big head.Roastedness and chocolate on the nose.A good strong flavor with a medium mouthfeel.Tis finished with some hoppy bitterness.



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