Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

On tap at Small Bar in University Heights. Nice little place they opened up there to go along all the other trendy craft ale pubs in the area. This is a nice take / improvement on a beer that I dont fancy all that much. Pitch black color with a dense off-white head. Medium carbonation. Lovely aroma of baked vanilla beans and ice cream, with earthy chocolate tones underneath. Vanilla flavor stands out much less than the aroma, but still delivers a good dose of smoke and chocolates. The bean is most noticeable at the smoke transition on each sip. Overall, the aroma is one of the best in any vanilla beer I’ve had. Flavor fades rather quickly, but a thick palate makes up for it.

Reviewed 8/16/2009 (Draft at Flying Saucer, Houston, TX): Pours a dark black body, with a small creamy off-white head, diminishing. Smoke on a full whiff. Robust aroma, coffee, and some vanilla and chocolate. Enticing combo of flavors. Chocolate, coffee taste, some smoke aftertaste. Vanilla present too. The vanilla and the smoke are in opposites, doesn’t quite work for me.

Tap at Shallo’s. Pours pitch black with faint red edge (though it’s pretty dark in here) and 2-finger beige cake batter head that just won’t go away. Nose is strong vanilla coffee over sweet roasted malts and sugar cookies. Flavor is bitter dark roasted malt with a smooth balance of roasted coffee beans and creamy vanilla. Still has a rough ’smoked’ character, but this is an excellent example of a 1-off. Very dry on the mouth, but very nice.

GLASS: Sam Adams Perfect Pint Glass TEMP: Chilled to approx 40 degrees Thanks to a kickass Cali based trader for this hook-up! This pours a super dark brown, practically black. Almost a fingers worth of creamy, light brown colored, foam sits on top. Retention is decent. Lacing is almost curtain-like and fairly sticky. The nose is full of roasted malt notes. It’s not much different than ’regular’ Stone Smoked Porter, at this point. As it warms though, the vanilla begins to come out, along with some caramel toffee notes. The flavor is filled with a big roasted malt presence. Hints of chocolates and dark coffees. Nice, light, presence of smoke. There are good, yet mild, vanilla notes. This really balances this beer out, quite nicely. Nicely full-bodied with a medium level of carbonation. This gives it a very nice creaminess, which I like. I think it is smoother than the ’regular’ version. At just under 6%abv, this is a very drinkable beer. Very tasty and smooth with a great balance.

Smokepot you rock man. This is a bad ass beer. Dark brown. Lots of vanilla with light notes of smoke and chocolate. Vanilla jumps out on the tongue. It actually takes some of the smoke flavor away. The vanilla, smoke and chocolate notes are awesome together.

On tap, Bottle Room. Pours opaque dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is smooth vanilla and chocolate malt. Palate is creamy, lightly carbonated, and medium in thickness. Very drinkable. This beer has a full flavor that marries sweet malt, roasts, and subtle vanilla quite well. Nothing really jumps out at you, in a good way. I would have this again on tap in the future.

Draft @ Falling Rock. Nose is fantastic - sugar cookies and roasted nuts with a lurking bitterness and a wonderful vanilla bean smell through all of it. Flazvor doesnt match up to the nose. Watery and one-dimensional, all the great smells in the nose are really, really muted on the tongue. A near-perfect nose still puts this one high.

Cask at Rattle’n’Hum. Glad I finally got a chance to try this one, I’ve wanted to for a while. A ton of vanilla in this, unsurprisingly, with that signature mouth-puckering bite to it. A little bit of roast beneath the vanilla, and no smoke. Not complex but tasty, very homebrew lke.