St. Charles Porter
Blackstone Brewing Company

This brewery existed for a long time in my hometown of Nashville, TN. In all my years growing up there, I never heard much good said about it. When I got around to trying their beers, I understood why. My description of them would range from "mediocre" to "underwhelming", depending on how generous I was feeling. This is no different. A stale, stale taste permeates this, with an unbalanced strong hoppiness with a muted and not particularly enjoyable over-roasted burned coffee. The thin body and low ABV at least make it drinkable, and there's nothing downright offensive in the taste, but I don't plan on revisiting it. The brewery used to have a very public restaurant and brewery setup complete with brewtanks and tours in a fancy building downtown. It closed about 10 years ago, and AFAIK they now just brew and sell privately.

 

St. Charles Porter. 12 oz bottle from Blackstone Brewing. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Received from @Whyteboar in NBW BIF #16. Reviewed 13/12/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Printed on rear label “BEST BEFORE DATE IS PRINTED ON THE SHOULDER OF THE BOTTLE”. It wasn’t. Served at 47.8 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 52.3 degrees.
Appearance – 3.5.
First pour – Medium Amber (SRM 12), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), muddy and opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, translucent, and red amber.
Head – Small (Maximum 0.5 cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, high density and fizzy, quickly diminishing to a 0.1 – 0.2 cm crown with no cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.5 – Weak toasted malt, no hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 – Flavor follows the nose – malty, slightly bitter, no hops, no yeast. No ethanol (5.8 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. No gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, watery, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 (After deducting 0.25 point for undated personal container) Weak nose but good flavor, palate seems a bit thin. Overall, a decent porter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 oz bottle, no date punched, into Ommegang tulip snifter.

Pours a chocolatey black with nearly no head, and then absolutely no head.

I get aromas of roasted malt and chocolate, dry roasted nuts, curling iron, and some coffee.

Flavor is very nice and tasty roasted malt - not harsh or burnt - and some caramel, bitter hops, slight metal, and chocolate. Fig on the finish.

Feel is heavily carbonated, semi-slick, slightly oily, with a bit of alcohol heat and a prickly finish.

Overall an okay to decent porter. It's relatively tasty, and the chocolate notes save it from being boring. It still comes across a bit mediocre though, and it's not something I'm likely to revisit.

Price paid : $1.59
Would buy again : no

 

 

 

From a 12oz bottle. Dark brown color with thin tan head that quickly dissipates. Roasted malt smell, pretty faint. Medium body. Roasted malt and nut flavors with a little hop bitterness. Tasty!

 

 

 

This was part of a recent drop-off from/by my local, in-person trader, @tone77 & when I realized that I have a couple of Porters in the on-deck circle, I decided to make this one my first stop.

From the Bottle: "Award Winning Ales Since 1994"; "O.G. - 1.056 IBUs- 34"; "Brown Porter".

I was interested in Pop!ping the cap to begin my C-Line pour out of a base curiosity. "Brown Porter"? What other colors might be involved? Black, perhaps. Odd. It came up with a brief finger of fizzy, foamy, light-tan head with low retention, leaving only wisps in its wake. Color was Dark Brown to Very Dark Brown (SRM = > 27, < 34) with NE-quality clarity & mahogany highlights. Nose was rich and chocolaty, like a liquefied brownie. Mmm. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but no great shakes, either. Taste was odd, not exactly chocolate, but more towards carob. It had a slightly medicinal cast, to boot. Hmm. I did not dislike it, per se, but I wish that it had followed the nose a bit more closely. Finish was semi-sweet, but with an odd, lingering not-quite-chocolate quality.