2011 Symposium New Albion Porter
Napa Smith Brewery

Pours a very dark brown, fairly clear, with no foam. Aroma is bread, caramel, and toasty malts with a little fig, soft toffee, and chocolate. Flavor profile is bread, caramel, toasty malts with raisins, fig, toffee, and mild chocolate behind. Pretty subtle and soft with a mild sweetness. Mouth feel is medium in thickness. Texture is mild with a very soft effervescence and light silt. Overall, timid, mild, and fair. More on the sessionable side for a dark beer.

Poured a 15.5oz Spiegelau tulip from a 12oz bottle.

 

Big thanks to Calton for sharing this one at my house on Monday night. Really appreciate it man, loved the vertical/horizontal, whatever we call this.

This was an oddball. Nice dark brown poir with a medium head of off white that straddled the top for a good long while before settling out with moderate lacing.

Aroma is odd and light. Roasted malts, but seems thin and faded? not even sure what to call it. light sugar notes, hints of chocolate and light vanilla? Just an odd, light, and dry flavor which finishes up the same way it began

Definitely the odd ball of the group

Big thanks goes out to chickencoop for sending me this one in a past trade! Shared this one with mikesgroove during a small ticking session at his house last night. Served from bottle into a Russian River -tion chalice. Poured a massively dark brown (almost black) with a two finger cream colored head that subsided to a half a finger very slowly. Maintained decent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, roasted malt, dark fruit, and subtle dark chocolate. The flavor was of roasted malt, dark chocolate, slight metallic, and subtle toffee. It had a medium feel on the palate with medium-high carbonation. Overall this was a decent brew. This one was probably my least favorite out of the four-pack. The metallic character in the flavor was a little off-putting making this one taste a little awkward. It is worth trying, but that is about it.

I got this from the four pack that was given out at the 2011 CBC. I thought this was a mediocre porter, but I did have somewhat high hopes for it.

It pours a darker brown with a good level of carbonation. It pours with a nice brown crisp head that doesn't stick around for too long. Pretty light in body, I kind of put myself in the mindset of this being the first porter I would have ever tried.

It has a nice mellow smell that owns roasted chocolate malts with a light amount of hops. It is a very mild smell that went well with the tastes.

It took me off guard when I received the different flavors that were in this. I got some definite roasted malts that took me by surprise. They were bold and didn't meld very well. It is a lighter beer in terms of body and taste, and I overall thought it was fairly mediocre. That being said, when this beer first came out I can recognize the effect it had on the industry. It is fun to go back and have something that changed the American brew scene so dramatically, and it makes me laugh to think about the response an Abyss or Black Tuesday type beer would of had back then.

A - Pours with a small, medium brown head of foam that settles rapidly and leaves little lace. The body is dark brown with a little amber light showing through.

S - Dark caramel and toffee with some spicy, chicory coffee notes. Light mocha in the background as well.

T - Moderately sweet, brown malt notes of caramel and toffee up front. Some cinnamon and chocolate in the middle. Finishes with toffee and a hint of licorice as well as mild pine flavor and bitterness.

M - Medium body, moderate carbonation, and a dry finish.

D - Enjoyable, though it is a bit dry for my taste. The malt isn't quite as dark as I would have expected for three style and it has a more aggressive hop character than I'm used to in a porter. It is, nonetheless, an interesting look at the early history of craft beer, and a window into what American porter was like long before most of us started drinking good beer.