Ithaca Gorges Smoked Porter

Brewed by Ithaca Beer Company
Style: Smoked
Ithaca, New York USA

camp fire smell embraces your sences 100%. smooth porter with a great smokeyness that anyone can appreciate.dark as midnight but not bitter.

Bottle: pint glass: enjoyed with Thanksgiving dinner... smoked indeed! I think this brew may be a bit underrated, considering the style is "smoked" not porter. Loads of smokey and roasted notes... I almost taste bacon in there! The body and carbonation are both medium, allowing this beer to reach every corner of your mouth, overwhelming it with smokey malts. Finshed clean and warm with a hint of esters.

Bottle, dark brown pour, opaque in the center. Tan head, fades quickly. Smoke scent comes through immediately. Nearly overpowering, but faint notes of dark chocolate as well. Taste is smoke and dark chocolate as well. Not quite as complex as I’d hoped. Creamy mouthfeel, but a little fizzier than hoped. Overall pretty good though.

Thanks to Mike for the bottle. Dark pour with afluffy beige head and no lace. Aroma of peat, roast, and chocolate. Light smoke heavy roast and dark chocolate. Dry and bitter finish

Pours black with an almost copper head to does seem to linger. There are scents of smoked meat, wood, and a dwindling camp fire. This full bodied porter comes packed with a mouthful of smoked bacon, chocolate, and plenty of malt. The finish is average with an almost, ’just smoked a cigar’ feel.

Pours a pitch black color and completely opaque except for the slightest of faint mahogany edges when held to a light source and a fizzy light beige foam head that very quickly fades into a lasting ring. Wonderful smoked malt aroma with lots of burnt charcoal characetr as well as some butane, bbqed bacon and scorched earth. Their is some smokey/tosted chocolate malt underneath the heavy smokey notes as well as some slight hazelnut, toffee and carame but this beer’s aroma is all about the campfire smokey notes and I love it! Soft bubbly carbonation up front leading into a thick smokey chewy medium body with lots of smokey malt character tht is offset bye a strange sweetness that I can’t quite put my finger on. Not as smokey as I prefer but enough so that it dominates the palate with a very sweet yet dry finish that lingers. Smokey malt flavor with hints of charcoal, BBQed bacon, butane, liquid campire, soot and ashtray but somehow this is not as smokey as I would like. There is a very sweet malty character lying underneath that cuts into the delicious smokiness and turns this beer from an awesome smoke bomb into a somewhat balanxced, sweet, toned down version of the style. I LOVE smoked/rauch biers and this one was just a bit too mild for me. better than a lot of examples of the style that I’ve had before but nothing spectacular.

Dark dark brown, almost black. Head evaporates after 30 seconds. No light passes through. Nice light coffee smell, roasted malt. Hint of mild hop sweetness. Mild smoky aroma. Smoky accent to the roasted malt taste. Coffee is not heavy, but a nice mild touch. Malt is toasted, not burnt. Hints of alcohol come in. Crisp and quite good. Has a steamed top layer. Medium body. Dry but a little creamy. Leaves a roasted film on the tongue. Hightly drinkable. Smoky, not overly bitter.

On tap, at Mugs Alehouse, on 22nd July 2009. deep red almost black; hazy with a pale brown diminishing head. Plenty of roast malt with a smoky bouquet comprising mainly cigar smoke notes. Delicious.