Archive for the 'Santa Fe' category
Santa Fe Brewing “State Pen” Porter
So, I lied. I complained about the Beer of the Month Club earlier, and the fact that they sent dark beers in the middle of summer here in NC. But, then, I opened the porter they sent. I opened it with an air of, “Oh, I guess I’d better get this out of the way.” However, now that I’m drinking it, it’s very very tasty. So tasty, in fact, that I’m about to instantly open another. But, before I do that, here’s a bit about it.
The State Pen pours a very dark brown that seems almost black until you hold it to the light, where it reveals some brown around the edges of the glass. The head is dense and caramel-colored, forming a thin cake over the surface of the beer. The aroma of this is very full of coffee, with some sweet toffee hints that complement it very well. And, onto the taste. This is not an ‘in your face’ porter. Rather, it starts out rather calm and quenching. The mouthfeel is fairly thin, so it tends to skate through the mouth. However, about the time this beer hits the middle of the tongue, a mild malty sweetness begins to rise, coupled with some subtle (but apparent) hints of coffee. This flavor rises and falls as the beer flows towards the back of the mouth, briefly joined by some richer breadier flavor. Finally, the beer goes down the throat and leaves you with little more than some coffee on the tongue, akin to the aftertaste from a rich iced coffee. The beauty of this beer is that it isn’t so strong or overbearing – it’s a light porter, but very flavorful. It is fresh and quenching for the genre, but offers some great darker flavors. So, apologies to BOMC, this is actually a great summer porter – I certainly didn’t expect it.
