Mad River Steelhead Scotch Porter

Brewed by Mad River Brewery
Style: Porter
Blue Lake, California USA

Bottle from World Market American microbrew pack. Pours a very deep dark ruby color. Some sediment floating about. Rich aroma of roasted coffee and chocolate. Strong roasted coffee up front along with a little bit of hoppy bitterness. Good bitterness to go along with a little bit of sweet chocolate. Bitter finish. Full flavored porter.

12oz bottle thanks to tever: Pours an opaque black with dark brown edges and a thin-lacing dark tan head. Has a sweet roasty dark chocolate aroma with a healthy dose of piny hops. Body starts lightly roasty and sweet with a mild roasty coffee finish and lingering bittersweet dark chocolate finish. A well-balanced and drinkable brew.

Bottle pours a black witha thin light tan head. Traces of light lacing. Dark roastd malts with some coffee and chocolate. Flavor is slightly bitter dark roasted charcoal notes, some coffe afain and a fairly thin feel. Lingering dark chocolate trailer. Pretty good. Lacking that ascidic sour porter twang that turns me off a bit on thie style.

12 oz bottle. Pours a clear very dark brown body under a foamy and creamy brown head. Good amount of yeast sediment in bottle. Aroma is chocolaty, roasty, and peaty at first. Eventually a little smoke, coffee, caramel, chalk, and char comes out. Flavor has that classic Porter base, chocolaty and dry, but then on the finish the peated malt really comes out. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, watery in texture, and with moderate fizzy carbonation. Overall, a decent Porter with a nice twist. It really needed to warm up a bit until it’s full potential was realized.

(06.12.06) 12 oz brown bottle from beeronthewall.com. Poured opaque brown with small tan head. Soft carbonation. Chocolate/roasted malt/hop aroma. Medium bodied ale that starts dry with tiny malt sweetness and caramel/expresso coffee/intensely roasted malt flavors. Finished dry with smoky burnt flavor and bitterness. Dry and astringent-like in the mouth. Flavor similar to a rauchbier. Excellent drinkable porter.

Nice aroma of chocolate with a malt undertone. Thin tan head. Cloudy dark brown color. Chocolate coffee earthy taste for a start. Toasted malt comes forth, chocolate dances, smoke drifts through, and there is some bitterness for the finish. Really interesting stuff.

bottle. Pours really dark ruby with a bubbly, light-tan head. Aroma is milky and quite sweet with just a touch of roastiness. Flavor is pretty interesting, it’s slightly bitter in a coffee sense with a solid earthiness and toffee in the background. It really does taste like a mix between a scotch ale and a porter, I was only expecting a standard porter. The finish is very much like a cigar and the lingering taste of a shot of burboun. I really enjoy this stuff. Leaps and bounds beyond the only other "scotch/porter" attempt I’ve tried: Flying Dog’s.

Pours a dark brown. Aroma of roasted malt and semi sweet chocolate? Tastes much the same with a bit of peat which almost tasted scorched to me. Semi-sweet chocolate dominates here with bits of smoke and hops making an appearance. I think the peat made this brew a bit too earthy for me. Lighlty carbonated and creamy finish. This was a bit lackluster for me and I didn’t truly "get" this beer.