Iron Hill Ring of Fire Porter

Formerly brewed at Iron Hill Newark
Style: Porter
Newark, Delaware USA

Shared with GMCC2181. Bottle. Ginourmouse explosion almost took Gabe’s eye out! Black in color. Aroma was pepper and tabasco. Taste was tabasco and a hint of chocolate. Overall a nice brew.

BCTC 08. So I made the mistake of sampling this at BCTC after about an hour into the fest. Sure the pepper was not apparent right away...but I sure had a tough time washing it off my tongue once it did kick in. Pours a deep brown with some amber notes and a medium creamy/bubbly tan head that left some lacing. Aroma of chocolate, some roated malts, earthy and a touch of some pepper. Flavor was chocolate, light roast, caramel, pepper...and then, wait a minute or maybe even less and a lingering burn kicks in.

Draft at BCTC 2008. This is one interesting brew. I love hot stuff so I probably like this more then the average person because the heat on this one is very noticable especially as you exhale. Aroma was more of a classic porter with lots of rasted malts and chocolate with only a slight hint of pepper. The initial flavor is also in line with a traditional porter but the pepper is a little stronger then the aroma lets on. Then there comes the strong heat build up after you swallow and begin to exhale. Wow was this interesting but it is a beer that I think I can only have one of due to the strength of the heat.

(13oz bottle, thanks TurdFerguson) Medium beige head atop murky brown body. Aroma is medium sweet, chocolate, some juicy pepper. Taste is medium sweet, hot pepper over the top of cocoa and light roast. Smooth/burning medium body.

Bottle shared at Columbus tasting. OK, so, I really liked this beer. Sure, it seems a little like a novelty, and an intimidating at that especially following the legacy that Ed’s Cave Creek Chili beer leaves behind, but I thought this to be very well done and a perfect accompaniment to pizza or nachos or BBQ. I did ingest some foam and got instant heartburn, but that aside, the aroma here is not nearly as indicative of the spice of the beer. Aroma is a nice blend of chocolate and roasted malts. It’s like an average chocolatey, roasty porter that is poured atop cayenne peppers. One time, at Quaker Steak and Lube, someone dared me to eat the hottest wings available. I did, and they blistered my mouth. In trying to find something to soothe the gaping sores on my tongue, someone handed me a bottle of Hershey’s syrup. I’m not going to say it was the best flavor. But it was memorable.

Bottled. The cork and cage are somewhere in my garden or the neighbor’s yard.. gushed out the whole way. Poured cloudy deep brown with a well-retained cap of tan head (once it settled down). The aroma picked up semi-sweet chocolate and graham crackers with a definite measure of spicy Tabasco sauce.. drier and well presented. The flavor wasn’t as good for me.. charred sweet and darker chocolates paired with tobacco.. building Tabasco spicage as it progressed, leaving an impression for a good couple minutes after the swallow.. the components just didn’t flow too well. Medium-bodied with way too much carbonation on the palate.. OK use of the barrel, but I didn’t care for the malts as much when it got to the flavor.. still solid overall.

Thanks to Sam for sharing. Opens with some light explosion and some moderate foaming. Pours mostly head at first, then fades. Good peppery spicy aroma with light roasty hints and chocolate malt character and cinnamon red hot candy like. Buffalo sauce flavor, but light at first, very porter like but the Tabasco and pepper comes on strong towards the end and you can start feeling it in the back of the throat. Spicy, jalapeno, and cayenne character with some BBQ sauce throughout.

Pours dark brown with a huge tan head. Nose is roasty malt, chile pepper, jalapeno oils, mild cacao and coffee notes. Tastes roasty dark malty, with pronounced chile/jalapeno pepper flavor matched with chocolate and some spicy yeasty notes. This went amazingly well with a handful of cool ranch doritos.