Ithaca Gorges Smoked Porter (NY)

Ithaca Beer Company's winter seasonal takes its name from its town's punny motto Ithaca is Gorges. There are t-shirts attesting to this, but I'm guessing all those college students prefer the ones claiming Ithaca is Gangsta.

The porter is basically a straightforward, medium-bodied, dark, dry brew at around 6% ABV, but with a light layer of smoke added. I'm still a bit put off by heavy smoke, so this is perfect for me. Gorges doesn't taste of ash and doesn't cross over into stout territory. It's just a really nice cold-weather sessions beer, possibly my favorite from this brewer.

Victory Baltic Thunder (PA)

I found bombers of this on sale with a drink by date 12/31/08. I figured it's a big enough beer (8.5%) so as not to show signs of wear. The brewer says it combines the "enticing, toffee roast of the British porter" with the "soothing, subtle fruit nuance of contemporary brews that flourish from Helsinki to Vilnius." It also comes right out and says it's a lager. My understanding is that's often, but not always, the case with this style.

It pours a lovely clear dark ruby with a nice tan head. The texture is very smooth. The taste is faintly roasty and fruity, but not as doppelbock-ish as other Baltic porters I've had. Alas, it also comes off as a touch watery despite it's heft, although it improves as it warms. The finish dries out and has some German-tasting hop presence. I didn't sense the 8.5% ABV, at least not until I was done.

Maybe the bottle could have been fresher after all. It's still a nice beer, but not something I am going to make to hunt down next year.

Utenos Porter (LT)

From Lithuania, this is, of course, a Baltic Porter. A very tasty one at that. It's fairly light in color -- certainly more brown than black -- and a thin in body (especially for a beer at 6.8%). This last bit takes it out of the style somewhat. It's loaded with caramel sweetness and sports a certain rum raisin quality. Near the finish, Utenos becomes chocolaty, but with only a slight roastiness to it. Not much of a hop presence, if any. Super easy to drink. A dessert beer, though I wonder whether it would match up well with barbecue.

Utenos Porter is one of those beer that thrilled me once, but may not do so again. In a different mood, I might be turned off by it's light body and lack of roastiness. It's a great value at $1.99 for 500 ml, though.

Southern Tier Porter (NY)

I like this brewery's Raspberry Porter, which I believe is just a blend of their Raspberry Wheat and this beer, the Porter. "Dark" says the label -- is that a nod to BMC drinkers, who might not be sure what a porter is? It is very dark, nearly black. The aroma reminds me of chocolate liqueur or maybe just chocolate syrup, but the taste is less sweet than that. Roasted chocolate, maybe a touch of charcoal smokiness as well. The body is medium with plenty of small bubbles. There's a cola-like quality to it as well, maybe something acidic, caused by the fact that it isn't a big beer.

Southern Tier owes its reputation mostly to its big imperial brews, but Porter (@5.2%) ranks with their IPA and Hop Sun as really nice session-able beers for when you don't want to be dazzled.

Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA/Road Dog Porter (COL)

The last two from the Flying Dog mixed pack are the two heaviest.

Snake Dog IPA: The label text plays on a "crazy, stalking EX" theme. Note that it never refers to the ex- in question as female, although there are hints ("it slaps you in the face"...if that's a guy slapping a woman, it sounds pretty bad). Apparently Snake Dog has been reformulated recently, as ratebeer gives it a separate entry for 2008 on onward (now 7.1% vs. 5.75%). It's a looker: clear copper with sustaining white head. Dry-hopping with Columbus gives it a citrusy aroma. the hops are used more for flavor -- citrus, floral, and spice, I think -- than pure bitterness. Without being competitive about its bitterness, Snake Dog is in fact an exemplar of the American IPA style. Well done.

Road Dog Porter: Used to be called "Scottish," but they seemed to have dropped that. This is the first beer I've had which refers to itself as shit (e.g., "this shit is some dark, rich and malty shit."). Do traditional German breweries do that? It pours dark brown and ruby but still translucent. Again, a nice head. It's a smooth one, with a medium body, light carbonation and somewhat sweet flavor. Chocolate malts come through, but it isn't highly roasted or burnt (not that it should be). I tend to drink seasonally and would just as soon skip porters all summer. Still, this is quite good and easy drinking at 6% ABV.

I'd say these are the two best of the mixed pack, but the hefeweizen is really nice as well.

Left Hand Milk Stout/Black Jack Porter (CO)

The last two from the Left Hand mixed pack, and possibly my last taste of these styles for months.

Milk Stout: This is my favorite of the four, although you probably need a bit of a sweet tooth to enjoy it. Wikipedia tells us this about milk stouts:

Milk stout (also called sweet stout or cream stout) is a stout containing lactose, a sugar derived from milk. Because lactose is unfermentable by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it adds sweetness, body, and calories to the finished beer. Contemporary labeling standards in place since prevent the use of the term in the UK. The classic example of sweet stout is Mackeson's XXX.

So they'd have to re-name this if exported to Britain, I suppose. Left Hand's offering is wonderfully rich and creamy. If it's coffee, it is cafe au lait or latte or something. If Starbucks sold beer, this might be the one. I don't want to go too far in proclaiming it's sweetness, however, as the roastiness does keep it in check a bit. Still, this isn't a Guinness clone, and it's all the better for it.

Black Jack Porter: Higher in ABV than the Milk Stout (6.3% vs. 5.3%), the body proves to be less creamy, lighter and fizzier than the stout. A dry porter would nicely complement the Milk Stout, but the first couple bottles of this I had struck me as perhaps being a bit too much. Roasted chocolate malts are in the forefront, and there's some bitterness at the end. But Black Jack isn't as dry or clean finishing as I would have liked. Maybe this is an issue of me wanting it to be something else. Also, my expectations were raised after drinking the Milk Stout, which is the one to get.

St. Peter's Old-Style Porter (ENG)

Suffolk-based St. Peter's has a reputation for brewing traditional ales, but their website now shows they have a gluten free offering. That's pretty low on the list of the ones I want to try. My Old-Style Porter comes in a round, rather than oval, olive green 500 ml bottle. "This beer is a blend of old mature ale and a younger light beer," says the label.

Dark brown/mahogany with a restrained head, the aroma is sweeter than the flavor will prove to be. It's dry, roasted dark chocolate with a charcoal undertone. Not as smoky as Stone's Smoked Porter (thankfully, IMO), but still persistently so. There are some slightly bitter hops at the end, and even a yeasty Belgian aspect to it. However, those are both in the background. The body has pinpoint carbonation but also might be a bit too thin for me. In fairness, this is a porter and not a stout. That's the problem with these pricey imports: "sessionable" just doesn't seem to be enough.

An excellent porter, but maybe not as good as Edmund Fitzgerald, and certainly not as good a value. I'd still love to try the cask version of the St. Peter's.

Stone Smoked Porter (CA)

The brewer claims this to be only subtly smoky, and most reviews I've seen agree that the smoke is only secondary. Some consider this a defect, but I'm not sure if I'd want more smoke. Maybe it isn't my thing.

It pours nearly black with only a small head. The body is medium with a fairly assertive small-bubble carbonation. I'd rate this on the dry side for a porter, and the typical chocolate and coffee roasted flavors are supplemented by burnt charcoal briquettes. The bottle claims that there are deep layers of "licorice, dark fruit and perhaps even caramel," but to me, there's just enough smoke to cover up these flavors.

I don't want to sound harsh: this is a good beer, and a good value at $3.99 a bomber. But I don't like this as much as most others do, and it's a bit of a disappointment to me coming from Stone.

Cooperstown Strike Out Stout/Benchwarmer Porter (NY)

Two dark beers from Cooperstown Brewing Co. tasted side-by-side. I liked their Pride of Milford Ale, which was an interesting beer of the sorts that isn't too common among US breweries. The stout and porter, however, compete in crowded fields in their styles.

Strike Out Stout: This pours very dark and opaque, with a fairly modest head. It smells stout-ish to me, akin to the dry Irish stouts. It has a standard roastiness to it -- coffee mostly -- that turns a bit smoky near the end. There isn't too much in the way of hop bitterness. The body is on the light side, which will be a deal-breaker for some, but I don't mind. Carbonation is restrained. It's only 4.6% ABV and makes for a good sessions stout.

Benchwarmer Porter: I've noticed other reviewers claiming the stout was over-carbonated, but for me, it's the porter that's out of control. Even with a careful pour I wind up with a massive head that overstays its welcome. The fizziness infects the body as well. Add the look (redder than the stout and translucent) and the taste (pretty sweet) and it really reminds me of cola. Admittedly, the sweetness is perhaps more molasses than corn syrup, and to its credit there's some roasted flavors underneath. As it warms up, I think I detect some butterscotch from the breweries' use of Ringwood yeast. This one has over 6% ABV, and I think there are a lot of flavors there buried beneath the fizz. But it's just too close to a cola alco-pop for me.

So I prefer Strike Out Stout and intend to drink it again. At both ratebeer and Beer Advocate, however, reviewers prefer the porter. Few reviewers note the excessive carbonation, so I'm wondering if there's a lot of variation among bottles.

Aldaris Porteris (LVA)

This Baltic Porter from Riga pours a very dark brown, but holding it up to the light reveals clarity and a red tinge. There's a nice fluffy beige head as well.

Initially, the taste reminds me of a doppelbock. The big caramel malt is sweet and reminiscent of molasses and licorice. It's slightly acrid, although not offensively so. Only in the finish does it turn into coffee. The body is an asset: medium with soft carbonation. The overall effect, though, is a bit sloppy. Some will accept this as the price to pay for flavor.

I'm in a bit of an anti-doppelbock mood right now, and would have preferred a more standard dry, roasted coffee-ish porter. Still, I paid only $1.85 for 500 ml, which is certainly good value for a decent, fairly big beer.

Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold/Edmund Fitzgerald (OH)

Where I live, we can't get many beers from Big Ten country. Cleveland is only about a two hour drive from Lakewood, NY (home of Southern Tier), but while the latter has its own shelf display at Wegmans, the former has been unavailable. Until recently, that is. Beers of the World now sells Great Lakes, including the variety 12-pack that I bought for an affordable $14-15.

Three of these four beers are listed among the 500 mentioned in Michael Jackson's Great Beer Guide. The downside is this probably isn't the best season for some of them.

Dortmunder Gold: Gold refers both to medals won at GABF and the color. "Not as dry as a Pilsner or as malty as a Munich-style lager," the label says. It is still pretty malty, with an earthy, grainy flavor to it. Hops make an appearance, but it isn't bitter. Nor does it finish cleanly, which is fine given its tastiness. It's more medium-bodied than light, with a decent amount of fizz. I like it, and intend to come back to it when the weather warms up.

Edmund Fitzgerald Porter: I think this one's even better. It's named after the doomed ship rather than the guy who the ship was named after (an insurance executive, BTW). Like Dortmunder Gold, it's listed as 5.8% ABV. It pours a very dark brown, but I can just see my fingers through the other side of the glass. Nice tan head that lasts. The taste is on the dry side, very roasty (almost smoky), and noticeably of coffee. There are some other flavors going on, but I like it because it's fairly direct. The body has a nice soft carbonation. It strikes me as being a tiny bit thinner than I'd like, but that's a minor criticism. This is a wonderfully drinkable porter.

Southern Tier Raspberry Porter (NY)

I've never had Southern Tier's Porter or Raspberry Wheat beers. Perhaps the Raspberry Porter is just a blend of the two. It pours very dark, nearly opaque, and only by holding it up to the light can I see any shades of red. The smell is definitely of raspberries. Specifcally, rapsberry seltzer water. That's okay; I don't really expect bottled beer to smell like a pint of fresh raspberries.

The taste is predominantly rapsberry too, nicely balanced between sweet and tart, with some roasted malt in the background. The finish tries to pull back with some dryness, but it's still mostly berries. About their porter, Southern Tier cautions that dark beers are not necessarily strong, and that's true of Raspebrry Porter. The alcohol isn't high, the body is medium at most, and the malts aren't really rich. It's extremely drinkable, though. I really like it, but shouldn't have waited until winter to try it.

I think this is one for those who complain that fruit beers are too light or inspid. It might not convince porter purists, dark beer fanatics, or those who can't abide berries in their beer.

Saranac Caramel Porter/Winter Wassail (NY)

Two more from the Saranac Beers of Winter 12-pack.

Caramel Porter: This certainly does smell like caramel, but more like those cubes in plastic wrappers rather than something fresh and rich. It looks okay: clear dark brown with ruby tones and a tan head. Taste wise, I'm not one to flinch at the slightest bit of sweetness in a beer, but this is too much for me. The label promises "Fuggles & East Kent Goldings hops for a smooth, yet slightly bitter, roasted flavor." Well, I don't detect much other than caramel. It isn't rich enough in taste for a porter, and the body is too thin. I thought Southern Tier's Pumking was over the top as well, but at least that was big and rich.

Mark at Beercraft blog says drinking this beer is "like licking peanut butter out of a dog's ass." It really isn't (don't ask). On the other hand, it receives fairly decent ratings at ratebeer compared with other Saranacs. I'm not crazy about it, although I didn't pour either bottle down the drain. If I bought this mixed pack again, I'd either cook with Caramel Porter or try to mix it with something else.

Winter Wassail: This is, in my opinion, a bit more successful. It's a crystal clear brown/amber color with a white head. "Look for hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, orange and allspice," says the guy who wrote the label text. The warm spices come through nicely, along with some fruit and some hops that attempt to balance it. My main complaint is the body: it's slightly watery and (again) has too much carbonation. A winter brew in particular should be heftier. Still, this one's fairly decent.

Samuel Adams Honey Porter (MA)

The Boston Beer Company likes customer voting, and this brew beat out a smoked lager to make it's way into S.A. Brewmaster's six- and twelve-packs. It's not a new beer, though. It was discontinued but now has returned.

This revenant brewski pours a very dark into the glass, but I can just see my fingers on the other side. A nice beige-tinted head doesn't last, but produces a web-like lacing, looking a bit like a honeycomb. The aroma has a bit of honey to it, but when I bury my nose in the glass I get a whiff of coffee grounds. On my palate it feels perhaps a touch above medium bodied. Fine-bubbled carbonation; not too much, but more than Guinness et. al. The taste is of roasted malts, some coffeee, and honey along the borders. The label brags of Scottish heather honey. Oh, sure, definitely Scottish heather. The finish is dry with a hint of hoppiness to it. Some people say this beer is too sweet, but I don't agree. Maybe this is what happens if you mix a traditional English porter with Blue Moon Honey Moon Ale.

It's a good beer. All told, I like the Black Lager best of the pack, although the time of year was in its favor.