Iron Hill Ring of Fire Porter

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

At the SSSSLT, an exciting bottle opening by the generous GMCC2181, who tamed the cork beautifully but just couldn’t contain the volcanic spewing of bubbles that transpired for about ten minutes (good thing he didn’t ship this and saved it for SL!). Obvoiusly, poured with a huge head, about 90% of the glass, big bubbles too, foamy, tannish in color, longstanding retention (although after 10mins or so, the bottle poured reasonably). Body of the beer was brown in color, much like their standard and excellent pig iron porter. The aroma was normal roasty chocolate, good stuff, no tabasco yet though, maybe some tingling going on in the nostrils. The flavor was excellent, the best pepper type beer I’ve had, roasty chocolate notes, but a nice complementary tabasco richness that added some heat to the sips (but not ridiculously, as I’m not into suicide hot wings, etc...) around the whole mouth and tongue. In addition to the heat, the mouthfeel obviously was lively with carbonation tooo. Gabe, thanks for the opportunity on this one, a very fun experience, and one which has me no longer wondering why folks mix peppers in beers.

Bottle from hopdog. Thanks man! Pours a murky light brown. Aroma of roasted malts, oak, light pepper. The flavor is a nice blend of roast, light sweet dark malts, a little oak, and a nice acidic spicy finish. I love spicy food, and the couple of well done hot beers I have tried, I enjoyed. Very creative and interesting enjoyable beer. I actually really liked this a lot!

Bottle from Newark location. The cork "popped" off, poured into a glass. Black in color. Big creamy head. Aroma is malt with just small smell of peppers/tobasco. Taste is pretty good. Chocolate and malty upfront with a spiceyness in the back. Spicy hot, even tingles on the lips a little. I wish I ate some wings with this. Medium texture. Overall a good unique beer. ******Update***** Second bottle almost took my eye out! LOL! Still a good beer. This bottle didnt have as much chocolate taste but still was good. SPICY. Very unique beer...

Huge, heavy carbonation pushes dusty, brown foam out of the bottle, and pours a three inch head on one inch of muddy brown beer. Damn it looks ugly but I kind of like the look. Nice smoky, tangy and spicy nose that mixed some smoked malt, some roast/char and some chile peppers. Spicy, peppery wood and mildly hot chile peppers hit the tongue in a wonderfully delicious performance of roasted malts, dry wood, sharp peppers… damn good all around. A great idea executed very well.

Sample, from a bottle. Poured deep brown, capped with a moderate sized tan head. Aroma of chocolate malt, smoke, and hot pepper. Flavor is chocolate malt for an instant, which is quickly joined by chili pepper that burns the tongue a bit. Hefty chocolate malt supports the chili pepper for a long finish. The porter and pepper match very well. Much better balanced than the Ithaca "Tastes like Burning", that I had at the Extreme Beer Fest. I’d like to try this again.

Big thanks to Gabe (GMCC2181) for sending this one to me awhile back for my #300 rating. First, as others have said, watch out for the cork! It blew off and shattered on my garage ceiling, and the beer all came out as head. Once it settled down, it looked a murky black color, which I dug. Slight pepper in the aroma. But MAN the flavor is all tabasco. Way to hot and spicey when the beer was cool. Once it warmed up, there were nice notes of charred chocolate and smoke. Some real nice flavors on the palate, some dark fruits and carmel. The tabasco is just too strong though, it burned my tastebuds and hindered me from fully enjoying this one. Really glad I got the chance to drink this one though, I’d suggest picking one up to anyone as a one off special treat.

Bottle, from axilla. Thanks Jon! I quite enjoyed this one. The bottle foamed up quite a bit when i opened it, but I was still able to get out 6 or 7 good pours for my fellow ratebeerians. Aroma had some nice roasted malts, hot pepper, and a bit of smoke. Flavor was spicey on the tongue but it did not totally mask the original base porter. Pretty darn good for what it is.

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.