Far West Three Threads Porter

Formerly brewed at Far West Brewing Co
Style: Porter
Redmond, Washington USA

Bottle. Deep brown in color. Decent sized and long lived light brown head which leaves fantastic lacing behind. Aroma is overroasted grains, chocolate, coffee and a touch of smokiness. Medium bodied but with a watery mouthfeel at times. Rich chocolate followed by astringent dark grains which is set upon by a rather aggressive bitterness. Perhaps a touch of sourness? Really rather well done, perhaps a bit more body.

09-Oct-04 (22 oz bottle: $3.75 at Liquid Solutions in Tigard, OR) Big, powerful flavor, very strongly roasted (ie, burnt), smoky, licorice, minimal sweetness, and a strong bitterness that lingers on and on, packing quite a punch in the never-ending finish. The nose is roasty, but also yeasty and a tad bit sour. Full and dense, but creamy on the palate. The color is described as "wine-dark" on the label, but I’ve never seen black wine before. Very dark brown and slightly translucent at the edges, but otherwise, this is pretty close to black in color. Light tan head maintains a thick layer atop the beer, leaving a considerable amount of lacing behind. I don’t know, if this was a blind tasting, I’d think this was a dry stout. I imagine many people will like this beer a lot, but it’s not really my style of porter. (6, 5, 6, 4, 13, total: 3.4)

12-Aug-05 (Draft: Celtic Bayou in Redmond, WA) Retrying this at the brewery, it actually seems a bit sweeter than my previous description indicates, but still very robust. So, scrap the comment about it seeming like a dry stout. This is a great porter with big, rich flavor.

I rather like this one. Huge aroma of roasted malt and bitter chocolate. Dark burgundy in color with a quick white head. The flavor abounds with coffee, toffee/molasses, smokey malts and bitter chocolate. Kind of flat on the tongue and fairly weak on the body to make it outstanding. A great beer nonetheless. I am now looking forward to the IPA.

aroma of molasses coming of a dark brown but not opaque body covered by a creamy coffee colored head. flavor was coffee and more molasses, a little bitter. the aftertaste had a coffee taste but that gave way to some significant bitterness. a nice tasty porter, but nothing spectacular.

05.07.05 Thanks to hopdog at Heavyweight open house. Nearly black, ample brown head. Very roasty nose. Dopple-ish and heavy. Nutty. Sweet-tart, bitter. Thin up front and finishes thin but with lingering coffee. Lingering tarticity.

Heavyweight open house thanks to hopdog. Definately a well made robust porter. Deep dark brown with amber highlights and a good head. Slight nuttiness in the aroma followed by lots of chocolate malt and some roasted barley. Flavor is also roasted but mostly chocolate and some toasted malts with a slightly sweet background. Good smooth finish.

Poured a dark reddish-brown color with a large sized off white head. Aromas and tastes of choclates, molasses, roasted malts, and coffee. Coffee lighter in the tastes with a light bitter coffee finish.

A very solid Porter, this beer doesn’t break any new ground in invention but it holds up quite well with even the most balanced beers. A perfect blend of smokiness and chocolate, this is quite the palatable beer. The flavor doesn’t deviate too far from the Porter text book, but it passes standardized tests with flying colors - it’s the analytical tests this beer fails to impress with. I feel content when I drink a beer like this, but I don’t run out and buy another bottle, or encourage my friends to either. I dunno. it’s just a matter of creativity. If I find a porter that is all chocolate and smoked malts, I want to see some intense flavor beating me over the head, or else it’s just the same ol’ same ol’. Once again, nice balance, not a bad beer, just one of many not bad beers.