Stone Smoked Porter

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

Eye-wateringly expensive bottle at The Penguin’s Arms. Handsome jet pour collared with beige, collapsing to a marbled slick in swigs. Nose notably soft and lactic; mellow in the hop department with soap and blackcurrant but mostly milk chocolate, walnut, vegetal locust bean notes, alcohol, prune at a push. Caramel and soft casky tones in there. Sweet and lactic like a Belgian dubbel, but not especially porter-like and certainly not smoked or even roasty. A typical English mild of half the strength is charred to a cinder compared to this. Thick black milk with barely a tickle of fizz, luxurious creaminess; soapy alkaline licks. Slippery, heavy and a bit tiring after half a bottle, Considerably less hop and malt excitement than I was expecting. Chocolate, milky coffee, caramel and oak creaminess; wood, slate and boredom. Overall impression: dull and silky like Chimay, drank over a pint and hardly noticed.

Pours a nice head. Nice mouthfeel. Good flavor balance, except the smokiness is more than I’d like and while it doesn’t overwhelm, it sort of upstages the rest of the flavors. It’s good, but not exceptional.

You know how Porters and Stouts get better as they warm? Well, I finished mine about 3 hours ago and I am still waiting for it to get better. I didn’t taste anything that set this apart from any other porter I have had, even the smokiness requires a little imagination to pin down. If this was a Brown Ale, it may kick ass, but for the style I’d rather go Baltik. $9 per 22oz bottle at Abraxas, Miami Beach

22 oz. bottle. Pours a clear dark brown color with a small beige head. The aroma is caramel, mocha, smoke, and some char. The flavor is roasted malt, caramel, light coffee, and smoke. Medium mouthfeel, smmoth drinking. A very good offering from Stone. I think by itself this one does very well. When it is tasted side by side with the Alaskan, it seems to be weaker in almost every category.

Beautiful dark golden brown with a small creamy head that holds at .5 inches pretty well. Aroma is a touch of smoke, wood, raisins, and ashtray. Taste is tar, ashy, smokey, woody and a little coffee. Strong bitterness in the finish. Kind of light bodied. This could use a touch more sweetness to balance it out in my opinion.

Bottle from Total Wine. Pours a raven black color and no head. The nose is rich with roasty toffee and smokey wood chips. Flavors produce notes of coffee, more toffee, subtle fired wood, dark fruits, grains, subtle bitter hops, and more smoke in the finish. Medium carbonation and medium/full body. Great porter; smooth and easy-drinking.

Bottle Pours a deep almost black with a big tan creamy head. The head lasts pretty well. Has a very subtle aroma of caramel, and a smokey burntness. Has a slightly mustiness about it. Has a very mild taste. Definetly can feel the smoked part. Nice mouthfeel , low carbination and a touch watery. Blending is fairly good. Lacks some depth but is a pretty good beer.

22oz. bottle from Willow Bend Liquors in Lutz, FL. Pours a dark brown with a decent tan head. Aroma is nice woody, caramel, nuttiness. Great smoky, burnt wood, and black coffee flavor. Nice smoky/wood aftertaste. Really smooth. Medium mouthfeel. This is a really good porter...I love the smoky/woody features. Actually reminds me alot of Lost Coast 8 Ball Stout.