Great Divide St. Bridgets Porter (St. Brigids)

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Denver, Colorado USA

Bottle shared with blankboy, HogTownHarry and GregClow- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Dark brown with red hues. Strong roasted coffee aroma. Flavour is very robust - wow. Lots of coffee. Roasted notes, not so much sour, but still a nice soft taste and balance that screamed porter at me. Just a hint of smokiness. A true session ale and one of the best porters I have ever had. Love the little write up on the bottle too.

Tap at Barcade: Very deep brown color, almost opaque with hints of ruby clarity in the light. Has a creamy tan head. Roasty malt aroma with tons of nuttyness and hints of chocolate. The flavor has a fairly good malt profile. There’s lots of nutty flavor in this porter, with some mocha aspects as well. Has a big peanut butter flavor in there. Stuff also has a licorice like saltiness toward the semi-dry roasty finish. Tastes like peanut butter and licorice. Stuff is interesting.

[1501-20080617] 355mL bottle. Grainy roasted malt aroma has some bandaid and a hint of coffee. Clear, dark mahogany wine body with a quick foamy light tan head. Coffee roasted malt flavour is watery with an aftertaste of bandaid toast. Full body is thin. Fair.
(w/ jerc)

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles. Sweet roasted coffee aroma. Chocolate is in the sweetness. Pours a dark brown with some orange hilights. Small off-white head that quickly fades to a ring. Flavor is virtually all black coffee. Starts light up front and increases in the finish. Decent. but one dimensional.

Appearance: Dark cola brown. Modest off-white head, though wispy, and lacking any substantial lacing. Smell: Not an overly fragrant brew. Only a mild bouquet of toasted grains, a soft aroma of dark chocolate with a very slight buttery hint of diacetyl. Taste: Roastiness, chocolate, carob, and coffee flavors are all present, but all are fairly muted. It all just comes across as just a little flat and unimaginative to me. This beer leaves the taste buds yearning for more flavor, more depth. Mouthfeel: Starts off uncomfortably watery; this aspect becomes more and more apparent as time goes on. Beyond a lingering astringency, there really isn’t a finish to speak of. "Robust" is a complete overstatement. "I am altering the beer. Pray I don’t alter it any further." Drinkability: Being rather light for the style, coupled with the 5.9% alcohol, this beer goes down easy. Although, while it is drinkable, I’ll look elsewhere to fulfill my "robust" porter needs.

Poured from a March 2005 bottle, this beer looks nice, smells nice, and tastes pretty nice too. The appearance is a really dark mahogany that is possible to catch a glimpse of light through it. Nice tan head that disapated rather quickly but not fully. Good lacing to boot. The aroma is dark chocolate, espresso, earthy tones. The flavor is dark chocolate and dark pit fruits. Hugely roasty, grassy, earthy. The palate is smooth but a tad thin. Overall, I’d get this and recommend it as well.

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.

Aromas of sweet malts and hints of chocolate. Black body with a small tan disipating head. Flavor was of mild sweet malts. Smooth on the palate with some roasty malt aftertaste. Decent beer