photo credit: walknboston

My wife traveled out to Oregon on business last November and brought back some beers from Deschutes Brewery. Deschutes does not distribute in MA, so it is nice to be able to try their wares out. I find that recently I am enjoying the Porter style more and more (I had McNeill’s Pullman Porter a few nights back and was quite pleased with it), so now seems like a good time to crack the Deschutes Black Butte Porter open.

The beer is a rich black with a tan head. The head lasts as long as it took me to write the introductory sentences of this post (a few minutes), and recedes to a full thin coating of the beer. The aroma is of chocolate, with a nice subtle sour twang finish. The beer runs clean and light through the mouth, with an enjoyable carbonation tingle throughout. Sweet chocolate is the predominant taste for most of the ride, though the chocolate becomes delicately roasted in the finish. Along with the roasted chocolate there is a pleasant and refreshing sour note in the taste’s finish, just as in the aroma.

A good, very drinkable beer that I would frequently pick up in six pack form if it was distributed in MA.

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.

The color, you guessed it dark, dark black.  There is little head retention with this beer leaving only a few caramel colored bubbles scattered about.  The nose has the characteristic smokey aroma associated with porters, which is further enhanced by the chocolate ingredients.  The smell is very thin and unassuming, but still pretty inviting.  The taste has a very dark, malty personality; which was to be expected, I mean it IS a porter.  The smokey flavors rush over the front of the tongue then unfold and splash on the inside of the cheeks.  At this point the cocoa flavors take over and finish the taste.  There are mild chocolate undertones that lightly touch the back part of the palate and extend into the throat.  Again the word “thin” comes to mind.  I expected a fuller, rounder characteristic but got just the opposite.  However, in this case it’s working.  This isn’t a complex, oversized beer.  Instead it’s subtle, refreshing and well-balanced despite it’s genre.  I can’t say I’ve ever said a porter was refreshing, so this is proof there is a first time for everything.  It finishes with a minor effervescent quality and mild smokey aftertaste.  Another job well done by Terrapin, especially with another experimental brew.

It pours pitch black with a small caramel-colored head.  The nose is bold and rich, consisting mainly of vanilla with a subtle hint of caramel.  The taste is thinner than the smell but it’s pretty appetizing nonetheless.  The added vanilla flavoring creates a sweetness that rushes through the mouth and collects in the back of throat to create a thick mouthfeel.  This beer definitely isn’t as smokey as most porters but as far as I’m concerned that’s not at all a bad thing.  As far as darker style beers go this is quite drinkable and delicious.  I could see myself sessioning this beer during the colder, winter months.  If I lived in Detroit I would seek out this beer on at least a semi-regular basis and that’s saying a lot seeing as how I’m not a big porter fan.   I realize this is  a pretty short review but there ‘s not too much to say about it other than it’s sweet and tastes good.

This one pours an extremely dark brown – nearly motor oil black – with a coarse caramel head that flairs up and dies very quickly. In the nose, there are light chocolate and toffee hints here, but the flavor is altogether not too powerful. In the mouth, however, this beer comes alive! In contrast to yesterdays brew, this one displays a bit more meatiness and a lot more refined sweetness. The mouthfeel is generally a bit lighter and more fleeting than the Great Divide offering. The flavor begins sugary sweet, moving into a smokey pork flavor around the center of the mouth that still generates some sweetness, almost like a sugar-cured ham. On through the mouth, a bit more chocolate comes into play, finishing off with a flavor that is predominantly chocolate and toffee with just a light smoke that sticks in the back of the mouth. I’d say this is generally more typical of a porter than yesterdays tasting, though it’s hard to say if it’s better or worse. The flavor is certainly complex here. However, it’s also a bit more quirky, and some may not like it as much. As for me, I think this is pretty good, though it tastes a bit coarser and ‘cheaper’ than the Great Divide, for lack of a better word. This is rich and sweet, but the level of refinement just isn’t there to the extent that it was with yesterday’s porter. So, while this is a good brew, and better than a lot of porters out there, I gotta throw the silver medal to the Black Jack in this instance.

The Saint Bridget’s pours a rather dark brown color – it is fairly clear, letting in substantial light around the edges of the glass, betraying a lighter brown hue. The head here begins rather thick, pillowy, and caramel-colored. However, it quickly dissipates to an almost nonexistant covering over the beer. The aroma of this brew is mostly nutty, with some peanut buttery sweetness and just a hint of smoke. In the mouth, this beer lives up to its description as a ‘robust porter’. This isn’t quite as smoky as some porters, and rather tends towards the nutty and rich category. Throughout the mouth, there are beaucoup nut flavors, combined with a rich dark malt that gives this a rich flavor and a substantial mouthfeel. Honestly, most of what I’m getting here is peanut. This couples with the malt, very slight smoke flavors, and some faint ‘porkiness’ to make a beer that is, while not terribly complex, rather flavorful and very accessible for a porter. I often tend away from porters because the over-bearing meaty and smoky flavors eventually wear thin. This one, however, is a bit more dessert-like and easy-drinking – probably one of the better porters I’ve had recently.

This beer poured a rich black with a chunky, small tan head. My nose was greeted with the typical pumpkin beer spices – cinnamon, light ginger, and light clove. These aromas mingled with a very pleasant roasted chocolate character, which makes for a mouth water experience. In the mouth the porter side of this beer comes through with a roasted malt and chocolate character. This roasting is a little harsh in the middle of the mouth but smooths out for an enjoyable finish. This finish also lets the beer stand out with a pleasant cinnamon sweet character.

I enjoy this beer a lot (I believe it would go quite well with a Thanksgiving meal) and kind of wish it was available year round. Then again that would mean one less beer to look forward to come fall. Get it while you can.

NB: I had my Pumpkin Porter on tap, though I believe it is obtainable in bottle form.

The pour of the Dark Star is as dark as the night – not a bit of light is getting through this beer, no matter how close to the light bulb you hold it. There’s a luscious and persistent dense caramel head on this beer, and the aroma is rich and biscuity, showing mostly malt characteristics in the nose. In the mouth, this Porter has a big mouthfeel – full and pillowy and full of carbonation. The flavor of this is noticeable, but certainly not overbearing. Initially in the mouth, the flavor isn’t much except wet. However, as the beer gets to the center of the tongue, we get heavy doses of nut and coffee that bring the beer to life. On through the mouth, some smoke characteristics come into play, leaving the aftertaste with a predominance of smoky nut. Honestly, I haven’t been in a big porter phase lately, but this isn’t too bad. It’s wet and full without being TOO smoky or porky. It’s flavorful but not overpowering, and I could easily drink more of this. For my first BBC beer, I’d say it’s a good offering.

This porter pours an ultra-deep brown color with a fairly thick caramel head that sticks to the sides of the glass. In the nose, there are ample tones of smoke and nut. In addition, I’m catching an odd sweetness to the aroma that is oddly reminiscent of bubble gum. In the mouth, this is surprisingly carbonated for a porter, but this isn’t a bad thing. The carbonation kicks the tongue into gear and makes the flavor all the more powerful. This is really a pretty straightforward porter from this point on. There is the flavor of smoky pork, and there is a pronounced nutty bitterness around the middle of the tongue. In the aftertaste, the smoke kicks into gear and sticks around like you’ve been chewing on embers. Altogether, it’s pretty good. Honestly, I’m not in much of a porter place right now, so this isn’t knocking my socks off. However, this isn’t bad. Again, pretty straightforward, but a good representation of the style.

This brew pours a very deep brown that doesn’t let a lot of light through. However, if you hold the glass right up to your 100-watt equivalent compact fluorescent light bulb (you ecologically sound beer drinker, you), then you can see that this is a very clean filtered beer, for the genre. The aroma of this is, surprisingly, very understated. There is just a hint of nuttiness and some breadiness in the aroma, but you have to really get into the glass to find that. In the mouth, the flavor really jumps out. The initial flavor is of dark malts and sweetbreads. However, as the beer traverses the tongue, a pronounced nut bitterness presents itself. These two flavors play nice together until the very back of the mouth where an interesting rooty/medicinal flavor sticks to the throat and lasts through the aftertaste. This flavor is actually reminiscent of a ginseng beverage that I recall – in and of itself, the flavor isn’t great, but it seems oddly fitting here. Overall, I’ll say this is a decent beer. I love scottish ales, and I like porters, but this Scottish Porter isn’t really blowing my hair back. In a dark ale, I tend to prefer a richer decadence that this beer simply doesn’t express. That’s not to say this isn’t good, however – just not quite my cup of tea.