Ramapo Valley Suffern Station Porter
Ramapo Valley Brewery

Single, twelve-ounce bottle just copped from The Palisade Liquor Store in Jersey City...
Appearance: Pours a deep, dark, purple hue with a gigantic foamy and frothy head that exhibited enormous staying power...
Aroma: Mild, muffled, subdued aroma with minor hints of roasted malts and barley...
Taste: Slick, medium-to-light-bodied taste with small nuances of chocolate, espresso, and malts...
Loose, watered down mouthfeel...
Average level of drinkability...
Nothing special...

12 oz bottle pours a reddish black color, small creamy tan head that leaves a some lacing in my glass, roasty chocolaty malty aroma. Roasted mild coffee and chocolate flavors, finishes sweet. Medium body with a full and smooth mouthfeel, very average at best.

Deep dark color but against light it looks like a dark red/brown. Seems to let more might through than most porters. Little light brown head when poured fell away quickly leaving a film on the top. No lacing at all with this.

Smells of chocolate and ground coffee. Sorta basic smell for a porter. Not bad but nothing special.

Tastes okay. Chocolate milk feel and flavor at first, but with a fair amount of bitterness, then there's a light caramel malt flavor and then you're left with roasted coffee aftertaste. The bitterness up front is unbalanced to me.

A nice gift from Truh on our most recent road trip.
Pours a very carbonated dark brown, almost black w/ some light passing through....two full fingers of head w/ a very gentle pour and some moderate lacing yet impressive cling.
Faint aromas of vanilla extract and sweet malt hit the nose...smells inviting.
Taste is enjoyable...a touch more going on in the taste. A nice robust coffee settles on the pallet and a nice dose of dark chocolate along w/ it. Not much hops detected...making this brew very smooth.
Mouthfeel is slightly thicker than average, yet w/ the flavor this one is putting out, I somehow expect more...this is just an American Porter, right?
Alcohol is not to be detected and drinkability is high...could enjoy quite a number of these.
A solid offering from an unknown brewery to me...real glad to get the opportunity to try this one...thanks again Sean.

On tap at its origional home at Gentleman Jims Pub and Bistro in Poughkkepsie, NY. Before the brewing stopped here, and the Brewer went to Ramapo, it was called Poughkeesie Porter, and has changed very little with the move.

Dark, chesnut brown color with a faint whisp of a head and minimal carbonation.

Aroma is light - some coco and roasty notes with a bit of sweet roll breadiness. Not very impressive but no off aromas or anything that would be considered unpleasent.

Flavor is rich and malty ( if you let it warm - they always serve beer too cold here) with strong dark grain flavors of fudge cake and roasted pecans. Good medium bodied mouth feel and full of flavor. Hop bittering is light, but mingles in well with an aftertaste of burnt caramel and a slight tickle of alcohol.

A very good session porter in the "Olde World" style and quite possibly very much like Matthew Vassar's brewery used to produce in this area over a century ago.
* The bottled version was suspect when it was first released but I am assured by the Ramapo people that these problems are corrected.

beer pours a deep brown color, head is hit or miss, one bottle pours with no head, one pours with a nice tan head that dissapates quicker than you say Jackie Robinson.Roasted malt, kind of grainy aroma. Taste - a little toffee, some chocolate, slight hops. This beer is not very good, kind of like my first batches of homebrew. Actually this tastes like homebrew

The body is a clear, deep mahogany with ruby and brass highlights beneath a short head of tan foam that holds okay but leaves very little lacing. The nose suggests toffee, dark fruit and chocolate. The body is medium-light and it's delicately crisp on the palate with a very fine, restrained carbonation. The flavor is quite straight-forward across the palate with some dark toffee and fruit, as well as some occassional hints of chocolate. A swirl of hop flavor becomes apparent towards the swallow; and it's balanced by a restrained bitterness. A basic, enjoyable porter.

12 oz bottle bought at the brewpub. Poured dark almond, and clear-light for a porter. Bit of malt in the nose. Minimal head, small bubble sheen and minimal lacing. Nice malt flavors, maple, honey and breadyness. Hops present to dry things out. light to medium body/mouthfeel. A nice porter. fairly light and easy to drink

Poured a deep brown color with a 1 inch thick head. No lacing developed. Aroma is quiet - roasted malt and coffee tones are very mellow. The flavor is better as the malt is balanced with a nice light bitterness. The very tiny coffee and chocolate tones round out the mildly roasty flavor.

Smooth on the tongue, and the roastiness lasts after swallowing. Medium bodied and carbonation levels were decent. Nicely drinkable, but I wish there was more to the aroma and a bit more kick in the flavor.