Smoked Northporter
Northern Ales & Grocery

 

I don't know what all the fancy-schmancy crap the other raters are talking about but I drink beer. A lot of beer. This beer is by far my favorite. It tastes good, smells good and drinks wonderfully. If this beer were available all over the place, it would soon become the best selling beer out there because it tastes so good. I'm not a high falutin beer connissewer, but take it from me, this stuff rocks!

Appearance: (4.0)

- This is a super dark porter, can't see through it at all in my standard pint glass. Nice light mocha finger of viscous head settled to a large lace and thin bubbly layer over the brew. A nice dark and pretty porter. What I would expect.

Smell: (4.5)

- Perfect balance of chocolate malt, roasty light coffee character, and a lovely light salty smoke. Really a nice earthy woody aroma. Smells like a sessionable smoked porter. Solid as can be. Impressed.

Taste: (4.5)

- I said wow to myself out loud. Clean and crisp porter with just the right light smoke flavors. Crisp bitter grassy hop and perfectly balanced with a subtle chocolate and roasted dark malt. The smoke isn't at all too heavy, and compliments this solid porter perfectly. This is seriously a killer porter.

Mouth Feel: (4.5)

- Nice medium body, perfect dryness from the bittering hops, and perfectly carbonated. This is how a porter should feel. It's a bit chewy and only a tad chalky as its malt should deliver such.

Overall: (4.0)

- Really impressed. Not because it was a freebie, or because I am doing some sort of favor... this is just a really killer and lightly smoked sessionable porter. It's balance and bitter hop is perfect for my taste. I usually like porters to not have much of a hop profile, but being a smoked porter, it fits it just right. Super good. Now I think I must do some trades for more offerings from this brewer.

Poured by brewer @ Huck's. No bottle date.

Dark brown, fleeting foam with brilliant edge clarity. Nose has peat on it certainly. Some grassy smoky character with alittle caramel and cardboard. Flavor is nice - peaty and mossy with bitterness and dry malts complimented by sweet malt character as well. Nice balance in the flavor for me. Medium bodied with moderate carb and semi slick finish. I liked this one, not too overwhelming with the smoke.

12oz bottle purchased at Bottles in Millwood, WA, for $1.79.

Poured a entirely opaque dark brown color that yielded nothing when held up to light. Big, creamy tan head that required two pours. Lots of lace on the sides of the glass.

Not much of a nose to this one. In fact, there’s virtually no nose at all.

Not a lot of flavor either. There’s a basic brown sugary flavor and a vaguely acidic taste, but not much else. Not sure what was smoked, unless it was something smoked by the brewer. It’s as if someone came along and dragged off the rest of the beer’s flavor.

Thin yet sticky mouthfeel.

Utter waste of water. Either this went very bad somehow or it was never much to begin with.

A - Pours a near black with a thin tan head. Head does not stick around although there is a thin ring of foam throughout.

S - Smoke dominates at first. Smells a bit like bacon. Curiously, this aroma seems to fade as the beer warms.

T - Very one-dimensional. Smoke and roasted malt character. No hops to speak of in the flavor. I realize this is supposed to be a smoked beer but I crave a bit more complexity.

M - Carbonated to style. Thin bodied with a bit of an aftertaste I can't quite put my finger on. Metallic perhaps.

D - I did finish my half of this bomber but was wishing I'd tried a different beer. As much as I'd like to support a small, local brewer I don't think I'll buy this one again.

Before I had a chance to try Northern Ales’ IPA, the corny keg blew and was replaced with this fresh smoked porter. That’s too bad. I quit smoking more than a decade ago and have no interest in any beer that tastes like a cigarette such as this one does. Apparently one pound of peat malts is included in a grain bill of about 60 pounds total, but this is enough to completely overwhelm the flavor to the point of painful extremes. I tried but simply couldn’t drink this muddy brown beer at all. It is not brewed poorly, but the recipe is outside my capacity for appreciation.