New Glarus Unplugged Smoke on the Porter

Formerly brewed at New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Smoked
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

Dark beer with a nice tightly compacted foamy head. Flavor is smooth and more smooth. Roasted lightly smoky malts with a bit of fruitiness and some chocolate. Just a bit of dry hop at the end to clean it up. I really like the way this beer was approached, with the smoke making itself known but not becoming the primary aspect of it. Medium body. Nothing but deliciousness here.

Mahogany pour with a big beige head. Aroma is huge smoke and caramel malt. Flavor is heavy smoke too with a bit of sweetness. A bit of buterscotch. Medium bodied and smooth.

12oz bottle, best guess is this came from Ughmash in our most recent trade. Its been in my fridge for a while. Shared with my girlfriend who loves smoky beers. Pours brownish black, not quite as dark as a porter as I’d expect. Head is nice and big and tan. Nose is smoke city, meaty, roasty and rich. Taste evokes the same kind of smoke as in the nose, in some ways this is like drinking meat, but its beer. Sometimes I don’t know how I feel about smoked as a style. For the style this is pretty damn good and like smoked beers I’ve had recently. Smooth on taste, smoky as hell, as good as I’d expect from an unplugged beer.

Bottle. Big thanks to Stine for sending this one to me. Poured a nice black body with thin head. Aroma is chocolate, roasted malt and some smoke. Flavor is chocolate, roasted coffee, light smoke and a nice sweet maltiness to it. The smoke sstarted to come out a little stronger near the end which was quite pleasant. Smoked beers are either hit or miss for me but this one was a homerun.

Bottles from valpoaj and Stine - thanks! Nice looking dark brown color on this guy with a light head. Aroma has some nice meaty, smokiness with some roasty malt and chocolate. Flavor has a subtle meaty/smokiness with a pleasant hop bite, some chocolate and coffee, and woodiness. A really nice mix - not quite an Alaskan Smoked Porter, but a damn good representation of the style - very drinkable and went good with the Chicken my wife made.

Bottle (12oz). Shared with tupalev, my bottle from my FestivuSanta 07!. Opaque,oily, dark pour, smallish slightly fizzy tan head (4-). Warming really opened this one up - I would have been maybe 3.6 or so initially - glad I waited. Terrific porter aroma - deep roast nutty/chocolate malt, smelled oily and rich, with molasses and dry herbal bitterness; over all of it rode strong but not overpowering hardwood/peat smokiness. The taste followed, deep rich nutty roast and coffee, the earthy peat and herbal bitterness were more pronounced. Reasonably thick body and quite a lively mouthfeel - had a long, astringent, near-burnt finish. Beyond solid - terrific.

Smells better than it tastes. A mild smoked meat aroma with some chocolate in the background. My first impression with the taste was that it is very dry and chalky going down. The smaller the sips the more smoke I taste otherwise it gets watery and thin. Not one I would try again.

Poured pitch black with a tan head. Aroma - Coffee and bourbon. Quite smokey as one would expect from the name with some roast malt, coffee and a hint of cocoa. Very similiar to a scotch ale.