Brewer's Choice Special Ale 2007: Honey Porter
Shipyard Brewing Company

 

 

Deep dark brown with a nice garnet color under the light. Fluffy tan head drops quickly to a thin layer.

Sugary sweet smell with a slight roasty finish. Very little hop smell.

Strong sweet honey flavor without enough roasty character to balance it out. Decent hop finish.

Medium bodied but the taste could really use a thicker body.

A tasty beer but not as good as I hoped. I am a big fan of honey porters (Sam Adams comes to mind) but this one was just too sweet and too thin.

Tasted on 3/28/08. Single bottle bought at John's Grocery in Iowa City.

appearance - Dark brown color, large head on this one, some lace left on the glass too.

smell - Roasted malts, some hops present.

taste - Roasted malts up front, ends with some honey and hops at the end.

mouthfeel - Medium body.

drinkability - Very tastey. My kind of porter, sweet at the end, not too burnt.

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a US tumbler pint glass.

A: The beer is a dark reddish brown color, with a large off-white head that fades very slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma is of honey, coffee, chocolate and dark roasted malts with a touch of hops.

T: The taste is malty and smoky, but not very sweet with flavors of honey, dark chocolate and roasted coffee. There's a dry bitterness that doesn't seem to come from the mild hops presence. The after-taste is smoky and bitter.

M: Crisp with a little smoothness, medium body, medium-to-high carbonation, finish is very dry.

D: Not very tasty, goes down ok, slightly filling, good kick, decent representation of style, there are definitely several other Porters that I would select over this one.

Pours very dark brown with just some mahogany tints coming through at the edges. Extremely large frothy brown head filled the glass. Look sort of like a root beer float. Aroma is lactose, tart. Flavor has some roasted bitterness. Try as I might, i couldn't get any honey or sweetness out of this. The mouthfeel is moderate, perhaps a bit on the thin side.

Pours a dark brown with a tan headskie. Tastes sweet like honey, overly so. The balance really isn't there and it makes this brew almost difficult to drink. Mouthfeel is smooth, but I'm not impressed. I'm glad I only bought one bottle as I don't think I could have finished a six pack.

An improvement on the Brewer's Choice over last years in my opinion.

Pours a dark brown with a full head.

Smells of roasted malt with chocolate and caramel, ironically can't make out any honey.

Taste is quite quite sweet, the caramel is the most obvious. Can barely make out the honey, but at least most so than the smell.

The beer is pretty light for a porter, which hurts it in the mouthfeel as it's supposed to be full, but makes it easier to enjoy more of.

When pouring the beer, the high pale brown head sinks slowly down with a loud fizzing noise. The colour is clear brown-black. There is some thick lacing.

The strong smell is all over the room; lots of heavily roasted malt, some fresh bitter notes, hints of mint, yeast and sweet candy.

The taste is a little lighter than I had expected. There are salty notes of really roasted malt, dry bitter hoppy flavours and a passing metallic touch. The aftertaste is fresh and balanced with increasing flavours of coffee, honey drops and milk chocolate. The finish is sweet-salty.

The carbonation is quite strong; large bubbles. The liquid is silky and smooth.

A good American porter, well suited for a damp autumn night.

Dark brown color with a beige/light brown head.

Smells of roasted and sweet malt, caramel, coffee, some fruit.

The taste is sweet, roasted and malty with hints of coffee, sourness, hops, maybe some honey and tea!?. Medium bodied and a bit flat.

I will probably not buy it again.

Bottled in 2007...I think. 'Tis not clear from the label, which has an 8/31/2008 expiry date.

A: Pours an enormous, tan head, which leaves lacing till the very last drop. Dark chestnut color.
S: Burnt chocolate and then...tootsie roll. Are you kidding me? Very different. Is this due to the honey?
T: It is balanced. A good porter with some burnt malty flavors and distinct hops.
M: This was one is a tad light on the palate and tongue. There is a dry, smoky feel to it as it does down the throat.

Drinkability: I have yet to review other English or American porters, but my beer memory tells me this is a slightly above average one.

Deep chestnut colored with ruby highlights. A thick and foamy, but tightly bubbled light brown head sits firmly atop and lingers long as a half-inch cap.

Aroma of roasted malt, some cocoa and talc, a bit metallic, and subtle honey notes.

Flavor of roasted malt, a bit smokey, some burnt oak, a little molasses. There's a bit of sweetness, but not much, and I wouldn't necessarily be able to peg it as honey. Not picking up the typical ringwood flavors.

Mouthfeel is somewhat thin, a little tannic, finishes tingly bubbly.

A: Dark, dark red. No lace.

S: Honey, bitter chocolate, hops.

T: Dark chocolate, caramel, roasted malt.

M: Quite smooth with medium carbonation and a wee bit sweetness.

American porter in a nutshell. Could use a bit more body. Give it a try
if you're into porters!

Brewer's Choice Special Ale 2007 (Honey Porter pours a very dark brown with an enormous tan head from a brown twelve ounce bottle. Roasted malt dominates the aroma. Roasted malt is up first in the taste, then a bit of hops, the finish is a bit fruity but then I get licorice. I can't really tell there is honey in this beer, but honey can be very subtle. I'm pleasantly surprised that I like this beer, I wasn't expecting much. Definitely worth a try.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown body with a full, lush tan head.

Smell: What a sweet-smelling, candyish nose! Aside from a little chocolate and coffee, its like sniffing a big glass of the Indian Corn you get at Halloween.

Taste: Sweet!! Caramel syrup and thick ribbons of honey. There's also plenty of roasty espresso, cocoa powder, and molasses. A bit of hops near the finish try to temper the sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: For those of you who love you some sweet, sweet honey, then this just may be the beer for you, and if its not this beer, then its likey another one.

12oz bottle into a pint glass.

Pours an opaque black with a very nice off white head.

Smell is of sweet malts and some roastiness.

Taste is of roasted malts. Slightly bittering bite at first, followed by some sweet malty notes. Has just a hint of honey.

Medium body

Good, solid porter. Recommended.

Charred chestnut with fiery red and orange highlights. At least three fingers of camel colored foam followed a vigorous pour. The creamy cap is lightly sculpted as it falls, leaving an good bit of attractive lace in the bargain. I usually like my porters to look darker and richer, but this one is more than acceptable.

Speaking of dark and rich, the nose isn't. That doesn't mean that I don't like what I smell. Well, a little anyway. The beer smells like cocoa butter (gotta love that yeast strain... or not), with no orange blossom honey that I can detect. The Warrior and Tettnang hops don't make much of an olfactory splash either.

Like most Shipyard beer, Brewer's Choice Special Ale 2007 is a bit of an odd duck. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have said 'honey porter' with any of my first three guesses if I had been blinded. That said, it has an interesting collection of flavors that might work their way into my good graces by the bottom of the bottle. Or they might not.

The moderate roastedness of the crystal, chocolate and black malts is the (somewhat dim) star of this porter show. The butteriness of the Ringwood yeast isn't far behind, nor is the surprising bitterness of the hops. I'm still not sure that I can appreciate the honey. In the end, it doesn't work out as well as it might have. There's more clashing going on than cooperation.

Given the style, I'm not impressed with the mouthfeel at all. In fact, it would have been barely average for a brown ale. It's too thin and becomes even thinner on the finish. A brief flash of bubbles fades quickly, leaving the swallow with less animation than is acceptable.

I liked the 2005 Brewer's Choice Special Ale (an American brown) and consider it the best Shipyard beer not named Old Thumper. Honey Porter isn't anywhere close to that league. It's a hodgepodge of a beer that never really finds its groove. Maybe the 2008 BCSA offering will right 'the Ship'.

Appearance- Pours with almost no head, what little there is quickly disapears. Color is black, very dark in color.

Smell- Smells sweetly of carmelized hops and honey, smells delicious.

Taste- Incredibly smooth, hints of caramel, honey, chocolate, and a tiny tang of hops blend togethor incredibly well. Well balanced with just a tiny bit at the end.

Mouthfeel- For how dark it is and its heavy flavors its actually suprisingly light on the tongue. Not watery, but certainly not thick.

Drinkability- A very drinkable beer, well balanced, medium heaviness and solid taste.

Another find at the local Hannaford. Pours a very dark brown, almost black. A nice smell of roasted malts. Tastes of roasted malts, some bitterness and a hint of honey (hence it being a honey porter) The bitterness attributed to the roasted malts, a slight sense of powdered cocoa). Mouthfeel on the thin and fuzzy side. But overall a thumbs up. Shipyard can be a bit dicey at times but this one I am quite happy with. Worth looking for.

Had this on tap at Merks in New Smyrna the other night. For those who don't know, New Smyrna is yet another one of the many Florida beer deserts, where one is thankful to find anything not made by Coors, AB and Miller. Merks is nothing short of an oasis in the New Smyrna beer scene, with a number of good beers on tap and in bottle.

In keeping with most taverns I've encountered in Florida, no one at Merks seemed to have any idea what kind of beer made up the current version of the Brewer's Choice. However, as is also often the case in Florida, the folks running the bar were very friendly and generous, and had no problem at all pouring me a free sample. I commented that the beer reminded me very much of a sweet oatmeal stout, to which the bar tender replied "uh yeah, it's pretty dark."

This beer pours a very dark brown black color, with an impressive tan brown head. The beer had very nice head retention and decent lacing. There was lots of roasty, dry, sweet malt in the nose, with a hint of licorise and vanilla. On the palate this was a very impressive, sweet, full bodied porter. The beer was very, very smooth, with flavors of chocolate, coffee and licorise. Despite it's sweetness, the beer was not cloying or tiring to drink, and finished with a nice dry hint of licorise.

I have to confess I have not been overly impressed with previous offerings I've sampled from Shipyard, but this was pretty good. I would certainly order it again.