Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Porter
Escondido, California USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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black with white head. nose of vanilla and some chocolate malt. low bitterness before chocolate malt with a touch of smokiness but a lot of strong vanilla character that hides the pleasant smokiness. a well made beer obviously, but i prefer the original

Very excited to have this on draft at whole foods chandler. The aroma is subtle and sweet with hints of roasted malt, more vanilla, and chocolate. Th beer thinner than I expected and not very creamy on the pallet. Despite that fave it tastes like it smells and has a vanilla forward with chocolate and smokey notes to the malt. There is some bitter chocolate flavor to finish the beer and overall it is drinkable and decliously balanced?

Pint at Winking Lizard Crosswoods. Brownish black pour with a medium tan head. Subtle smoke in the nose with chocolate, roast and big vanilla notes. Roasty and smoky flavor on the front end, but vanilla dominates the mid palate before chocolate and roast show up on the back end. Tasty.

Rich hazy brown body with a thin tan head. Aroma of a touch of smoke, some light malt, some caramel and way too many vanilla pods. Meidum-bodied; Potent sweetness, some smoke and peat flavours with a touch of malt in the back, but again the vanilla is quite a bit too potent - tastes more like the vanilla was used to try to cover up all of the other tastes. Overall, not such a great beer but nice to try anyways. I sampled this pint on draught at the Goat Hill Tavern with haddon90 on 27-August-2011 in Costa Mesa, California.

[On tap] Dark opaque hue, decent head formation. Mild peated malt and smoke aroma, some coffee and vanilla smoothness. Palate is really well balanced between the coffee and and smoke of the malts and the smooth sweetness of vanilla.Drinks a little lighter than the original but no complaints. Smoky malt lingers well into the aftertaste.

On Tap pours black with a garnet hue. Smell of roasted malts and vanilla, some smoke. Tastes great, the best of the Stone porters IMO, very smooth and full of flavor. A slightly dry finish leaves a nice creamy vanilla flavor with a little bit of dark malt. I hope to see a bottle of this soon.

On cask at The Taproom SD. Seems to be a different recipe from all the other Stone porters since it wasn’t smoked and it sure tasted different so figured even though it was a cask it should be different (if not sorry). Light brown with tan head. Aroma was very similar to chocolate and vanilla wafers - also roasted malts, and not to sweet. Taste was similar - a muted sweetness with some grains, some alcohol, finish is somewhat dry and a bit of chocolate.

Had a sample of this at Churchkey...really great. Everything smooth, and smoky about the standard porter, with a hint of vanilla. Hopefully as the brewery expands they will bottle this. It’s delicious.

Cask at GBBF 2010. A dark brown beer with a red shine and no head. The aroma has notes of vanilla and roasted malt. The flavo ris sweet with ntoes of vanilla, malt, and caramel and just a hint of smoke, leading to a dry vanilla finish. A bit too much vanilla for my liking.

On tap at Crunchy’s, East Lansing. Deep nearly opaque garnet body, thin buff head. Nose of cocoa, coffee, vanilla, and smoke. Bitter, tannic, almost astringent body, relatively light, with vanilla and light sweetness. Cocoa and coffee slowly develop with warmth, but vanilla tends to dominate the palate. Bitter finish.