Blue Ridge (SC) Santas Little Helper (-2006)

Formerly brewed at Blue Ridge Brewing Co. (SC)
Style: Porter
Greenville, South Carolina USA

Name: Santa’s Little Helper
Date: 12/23/2006
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Vintage: 2006

dark with ruby edges, lasting fine tan head, heavy lace, creamy body, sweet chocolate flavor followed by nice roasted character and a balancing bitter finish,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Growler split with Muenster and Tronraner. Pours quite black but not heady at all. Actually, the carbonation is very, very low. The growler is only about 6 hours old and hasn’t been opened at all, but the flatness may or may note be attributed to a not-so-good seal. There is a heavy charcoal/smoked meat aroma with soy sauce and fuel. The flavor is. . .questionable. It’s slightly astringent and fuely with more charcoal notes. It seems like a mesh of a pineapple juice flavor and smoke might be responsible for something that reminds me of charcoal. Um, this is pretty weird and nowhere near as good as the Smokejumper that we also sampled this night.

Thanks to my bros tronraner and NachlamSie for this, but man, what is going on here??? The aroma truly is, as summed up perfectly by tronraner "freshly lit charcoal grill" Good call Joe. Anyway, we had to force ourselves through a test of manhood through the growler. Not terrible by any means, but just not something I would drink again.

Growler from NachlamSie. Pours amber black with a very small brown head. The aroma is charcoal, coffee, and a bit of meat. This tastes much like a freshly lit charcoal grill smells... just a tinge fuel-like, with lots of smoke, ash, and meat. There are also some grass and fruit notes in there. Some chocolate notes are lost in there somewhere and peek through from time to time. Oh, also, the next morning, my urine smelled like smoke.