Brewed By: Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California
Purchased: Big 22oz bomba from Binny's in Chicago, Illinois; 2012
Style/ABV: American Porter, 5.9%
Tonight I'm kicking back with a beer from Stone Brewing. There's not a ton to talk about here in the way of style guidelines or the beer itself, which is nice. Sometimes you just want to drink a beer, amirite? In case you don't know who Stone is:
Stone Brewing are one of the more prominent breweries in the American craft brewing scene. They were founded in 1996 in San Marcos, California, and moved to Escondido, California where they recently expanded their operations. Stone was founded by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch. Koch has a reputation among the craft beer community for voicing his opinion, not putting up with shit, and standing behind his beer.
With that said, today's beer is a Porter. It's actually an American Porter, and it's actually an American Smoked Porter. Smoked beers have a pretty mixed reputation in the beer community...either you love them, or you hate them. I'd say I'm a fan, and every now and then I enjoy those huge campfire, liquid bacon, and bacon soda notes you get from the smoked malts.
If you check out the Smoked Porter profile page, you can get Stone's low-down on this beer. This beer is described as featuring a subtle smokiness, along with some nice rich chocolate and coffee flavors. The beer was first released in 1996, and clocks in at 5.9% ABV and 53 IBUs. For a Stone beer, that's fairly reasonable. The beer is brewed with I'm assuming a whole lot of chocolate malts, roasted malts, and some smoked malts. I'm not sure how Stone does the smoked malts; are they in-house? Are they the same malts smoked over beechwood that you would find in a traditional Rauchbier? The beer also features some Columbus (pleasant, pungent) and Mt. Hood (mild, pleasant, clean) hops, which you would expect since it is pushing 53 IBUs.
Ratebeer has a quote of Greg Koch saying that the Stone Smoked Porter is unlike a Rauchbier, in that the smoke is an element of the beer's character rather than the main character. I hope that's the case, because this is a Smoked Porter and not a Rauchbier. The bottle features the typical, awesome Stone bottle art. Stone knows how to make awesome bombers of beer. Stone suggests pairing this beer with barbequed meats, fine chocolate cheesecake, and other desserts. They even suggest pairing it with a PB&J. I'm going to hold my tongue and predict that if the smoked character is kept in balance, this might be a beer to have with breakfast. So with all that said, let's pop this open and get on with the review!
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| Stone Smoked Porter |
The beer pours with 4 to 5 fingers of khaki tan head. The head is super thick and foamy, and looks absolutely gorgeous atop this beer. The beer appears to be black or dark brown in lower light, with some hints of red and brown escaping the edges of the beer. When held to bright light, this beer seems more dark brown, with hints of ruby red and even some orange escaping the sides. The head is still a brighter tan/khaki color in bright light, and as the head recedes there is some killer lacing on the glass. Head retention seems good, and it should hold up through the duration.
The aroma on this is not a barbeque pit, or cured meats, or bacon. There is definitely some smoke on the nose, but it's subtle. There is just a hint of meat/bacon, but it's more like a barbeque/smoke pit type note. I'm actually getting some hops and hop bitterness on the nose. It's hard to pull out a distinct hope flavor with the smokey flavor in there, but I'm getting just a hint of earthy hops and even a hint of citrus. I am getting a bit of coffee, and some hints of vanilla/chocolate. Actually, there's a decent coffee note on the nose, which is nice. All-in-all, this is a lot less smokey than I was expecting.
The taste is rich and smooth, and even a touch creamy. I'm getting some nice vanilla/coffee and roast in the back end, with a really nice finish on this. There is a wave of smokey malts in here, but it is very subtle and leans more towards that smokey/firey flavor than a meaty flavor. Up front I'm getting some hop bitterness, some earthy/floral, and even some just-ever-so-slightly pungent hints of citrus bitterness. There is some smoke and woody notes in the middle, with hints of smoke. There is some coffee in here as well, but it is very subtle and plays off the smoke. This beer starts drying up mid-palate, and finishes very dry with a pleasant subtle smokey note, some roasted malts, and hints of malt flavors like vanilla and coffee. There's a chocolate dryness/bitterness in the finish, and I see how you could pair this beer with a chocolate cheesecake.
The mouthfeel is medium-light, and the palate depth is okay. Complexity is high. There's something about the mouthfeel that feels just a touch over-carbonated and thin. It could be the fact that the smoke is so dominant, and drying. This beer seems to have moderate to high carbonation, and it's fairly assertive on the palate. At 5.9% ABV, this still falls into the realm of very drinkable beers, and this is in fact a very drinkable beer. Up front is some chocolate, smoke, and hops; the middle is smoke, coffee, wood and drying; the back end is more drying with this lovely chocolate/roasted/vanilla/coffee/smokey thing going on. Actually, this leaves quite an impressionable drying sensation on your palate that is really fantastic. I would love to pair this beer with some smoked barbequed ribs, or some pulled pork. I think it would be a smashing pairing.
Rating: Above-Average
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