Ol' Woodenhead Smoked Porter
Mt. Begbie Brewing Co.

Bottle: Poured a light black color porter with a big foamy head with some good retention and some good lacing. Aroma of subtle smoked malt with some roasted malt notes in intriguing but maybe a tad weak. Taste is also dominated by the roasted malt notes with some medium smoky notes. Body is definitely too watery and filtrated for the style with some good carbonation. A good base with some nice characteristics but lacking a bit of power too makes this truly interesting.

Appearance: Color located somewhere between red and brown, depending on the light, so it looked a little like cola. Like the stirred cola my mom used to give me when I was sick, because it was just as flat. I think this was an aged bottle...

Smell: It lived to it's name, because you could smell the smoke, it was a mellow, smoked cheese aroma, but it might have been a little past it's prime, it had a little mediciny twang to it.

Taste: Rancid macadamia nuts, the kind you get for 6$ form a hotel minibar, it tasted a little overcarbonated (wasn't expecting this at all) and it was prickly like sour skin milk. I'd be curious to taste a fresher one, but I won't go out of my way for it.

A good porter, balanced medium mouthfeel, with a tad sourness and good amount of smokiness. If you are looking for smoke alone, go elsehwere like Calumet. Just very drinkable at dinner at the end of a scorching day.Thanks JoeMcPhee. Not opaque as expected.

I gave this a reasonably high rating due to its uniqueness and the fact that I enjoy this brewery's products; however, I'm not sure how I feel about this.

The colour is deep ruby, not the traditional near black that most porters I've had pour as. There was very little head, and the fizz from it was audible. However, what little head there is lasts quite awhile, but leaves no lace.

Smell is smoked, and by this, I mean very close to strongly smoked meat. Not bad, but not what I expected. Maybe too cold.

Initially, the taste was overwhelmingly smoked meat and very little else. There were no roasted or chocolate malts that I've come to expect from porters.

As it warmed up, the smoked taste became a little less prominent, with hints of chocolate malts in there. Still quite smoky. This would go well with a good aged or smoked cheese, or a good Canadian breakfast of well-smoked bacon, pancakes and maple syrup.

Again, I'm not sure how I feel about this. If I see it again, I will buy another bottle, but I can't make a final judgement on this from just one bottle :)

Update: I purchased another bottle, and was pleased. The "meat" flavour was not so dominant, but the smokiness was still present. An intruiging flavour, and one that is growing on me.

This is a great pour in the dead of winter as the smoke flavours are nice and prominent amongst the burnt malts and chocolate notes. This has more smoke than Stone's version though lighter in the main body. These guys know how to make good beer and this is often a hard to find seasonal. Try it with smoked gouda.

As Mt. Begbie Brewery states on its website, this is a perfect brew for a cold Canadian winter night, and indeed this is when they produce "Ol' Woodenhead," a winter seasonal beer. It pours a very attractive dark brown/red, with typical porter head: small and creamy. It leaves long-lasting, thick lace. The smell is quite unique: besides the obvious sweet and roasted aromas, there is a beechwood odour, as the beer is brewed with beechwood smoked malt. Interesting, but I detect almost a "meat" smell, such as steak or a beef-roast, no doubt from the smoked malt. Taste is full, creamy and smooth, and the beechwood is detectable. Sweet, and much preferred, for me personally, over Okanagan Spring Brewery's Old English Porter(another micro in BC). Porter is not my favourite style, but this one I know will grow on me--pity it is not available year round.