India Pale Porter
Boston Beer Works - Canal Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured on-tap at Canal Street, and served in a pint glass. Pours jet-black, with ruby highlights and a thick, low profile, light brown colored head of about a quarter of an inch. Nose of roast coffee, chocolate, and hops. This beer coats anything it touches. I'm excited. Looks like motor oil. The beer's flavors are rich mocha/coffee, but supersmooth. Good dose of hops at the end to clean up the smooth, creamy body and leave the palate waiting for more. The aftertaste is bitter, dark coffee, with a good hops presence. The finish is slick, but clean. Great beer.

I had a pint of this before a Red Sox game this past week at the Fenway location. Served in a 16oz glass. Dark brown body with a mudpie colored head. Very impressive look to this beer. Smell was spicy, earthy, and smoky. I really enjoyed the taste of this beer. There was plenty of the flavors of a porter that I like - chocolate, coffee, a bit of licorice. But the upfront hop presence really struck me. There was a lot of hops for a porter, but not in a bad way. It was not overpowering like in some double IPAs. There was just enough hops to let your palate know they were there, but not enough to take away from enjoying a nice roasted porter. Very well balanced beer between the hops and the malt. One of the better and more memorable BBW beers I have had in a while.

Pours a black body w/ a small offwhite head on top of a rather bland aroma of minor malts and little hops. A medium body that started off w/ touches of sweetness and even creaminess but then finishes w/ a crisp hoppy backbite, almost to the point of bitterness. A decent balance for awhile but the finish is offsetting.

Good starting head, leaves ample ring/blanketing lace. The brew is dark brown where only the faintest of light passes.

Chocolatey and hoppy smell. Not very bitter.

Starts as malty Porter and ends as Bitter. Long lasting aftertaste. Decent body, although it seems thin in the swallow. Relatively dry.

Had this surprise cask-conditioned offering at the Canal Street Beer Works.

Pours a dark brown; almost identical in color to their Muddy River Porter. The head is dense and persistent, and pure white.

The aroma is a bit hard to decipher, which is a frequent problem at Beer Works because of the constant, potent waft of pub food odor interference. However, the malts dominate the hops at this juncture. Fairly warm and chocolatey, but subdued.

The taste is quite an adventure. If I closed my eyes as I sipped, I could imagine that this was a pretty standard-issue IPA, with a fairly generic floral hop profile. However, the hops make way for a nice, thick malt follow-through, with the two distinct profiles never really getting in the way of one another. It's pretty interesting. The malt is slightly chocolatey and rich, and leaves a nice aftertaste.

The mouthfeel is great, especially because this was (surprisingly) served a the perfect temp. When I picked up the glass, it was nearly room temperature, which ended up being perfect. Even the hop flavors came out at this temp, which was interesting.

Drinkability is decent. The flavor is surprisingly complex, so opt for the 20-oz and enjoy. Beer works has a nice brew here.