Great Divide St. Bridgets Porter (St. Brigids)

The aroma has a bit of a metallic tinge to it. Otherwise, there’s a nice blend of cocoa and smoky malts, with a bit of bitter coffee and Tootsie Rolls thrown in. Light alkaline sweetness to the nose. Dark brown black clear body, with pillowy light tan creamy lacing head. Medium bodied, with pretty heavy carbonation along with a carbonic tang and some throat tingling. Starts with chocolate or alkaline cocoa powder, mild tangy bitter coffee grounds, and a bit of smokiness. Any caramel sweetness present drops off quickly as a dry tonic effect, probably from the excess carbonation, comes in with bittering hops on its heels. Light metallic notes in the finish along with the bitterness and nutty dryness. After is dry, with bitter cocoa and hazelnut. Not a bad porter, but not overly remarkable.

sampled at the brewery. Aroma is chocolate, coffee. Taste is chocolate, light coffee and some light bitterness. Dry lightly roasty finish. good porter.

On plus side it has a dry not-too-sweet mild roasty bitterness. Also its a bit too thin and carbonated with a stale mineral taste and feel.

Bottled week 5 of January 2006 and drunk on 9/14/06.
Dark brown-black body still shows a light touch of deep, auburn-tinged mahogany, while a dark-beige head is about one finger in height, rather not-dense (can’t think of the antonym right now…) and shows moderate retention, low lacing. Lots of large bubbles in the liquid, yet the head retention isn’t that impressive nor is the lacing. I thought GD bottle conditioned their beers, but this surely dosent seem bottle conditioned.
The nose is soft, chocolatey and impresses upon me a strong resemblance to coffee cake. Light pale malt sugars resembling the icing and the easygoing, coffeeish chocolate malt providing the coffee. A slight note of peanut brittle adds some staleness, while a plasticy, overused yeast note arises on the end, especially after warming. Still, enough of a creamy malt note, not too overbearing, mixes with a slightly singed, lightly acidic porter-appropriate note to create a true enough aroma and to its credit the beer is 7 months old (though it was stored properly). Still wonder about the carbonation and pasteurization of this one though.
Very easygoing, simple chocolate and cream washes over the palate, with dots of light roastiness, but more of a heavily creamed/sugared coffee that hangs on in the finish. Some peanut brittle-like notes suggest pasteurization, but it could just be the age of the beer. Heavy plastic, not medicinal, but just rubbery and old is noted on the finish as well. Carbonation is zippy, not overly engaging and quickly loosens giving the beer a bit of wateriness as it warms. The well-extracted malts and appropriate attenuation (medium body) keep it quite drinkable though, if rather simple. No alcohol or oxidation (and now that I think about it, if it’s not oxidized, it most surely can’t be pasteurized) noted in aroma or flavor.

Pours out nice and black, but the head is thin and disappears a bit to quickly. The aromo is nice with an assertive nose from the roasted malts. But the taste is a bit lacking in fullness and complexity. There is a hint of esters and the roastedness is obvious. But a little more body and depth would benefit this beer greatly. But not a bad beer anyway...

Bottle: Poured a black color porter with a small off-white foamy head with average retention. Aroma of faint chocolate malt with some roasted malt. Taste is pretty dry with some chocolate note and slightly bitter finish. Body is about average with some medium carbonation. Overall, this is a good and well balance example of a porter but lacks a bit of character to make this truly memorable.

The 12 ounce bottle poured a very dark garnet (almost black) beverage with a modest creamy thick tan head that lasted quite nicely throughout the tasting leaving beautiful lacing on the glass. The aroma bursts on you senses with dried plum, tanned leather, caramel, dark chocolate and roasted malts and just a hint of coffee. The body was medium full (I was expecting more ... oh well) with soft carbonation and a smooth, creamy texture. The flavor starts off lightly bitter with earthy overtones accompanying the flavors hinted at by the aromas. The finish was long and satisfying.

Dark blackish-brown hue, with a frothy tan-colored head, with a mild dark roasted malt nose, with a hint of fruitiness, chocolate and mocha accents, coffee note in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a smooth chocolatey malt character, with some roasted coffee beans notes, fruity accent, subtle hops flavor, leading towards a bitter chocolate and lingering delicate hops bitterness finish.