Smuttynose Chai Porter

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Cask at Blind Tiger. This was an unusual beer. Poured a near opaque black color with a soapy light brown head. Distinct spicy chai aroma. Any beer aroma that might have been there was subdued at best. Medium bodied and spicy. Chai flavor dominated the chocolate and roast underneath. Interesting and bizarre at the same time.

Cask at the Blind Tiger. What a beer. I’ve been salivating over this beer for years, always seeing it in the Smuttynose list and never thinking I’d have a chance to try it. And I only got to try it after a long and painful passover day, where a nice beer would be an incredibly lovely treat to relax the ol’ bones.

You may think that would make my rating rather biased and untrustworthy, but I got to down a couple pints two days later with no more prejudice and it was just as fantastic. Incredibly drinkable, not necessarily complex but still a symphony in the mouth, albeit one you don’t fall asleep during, as this beer goes down faster than near any other beer I’ve ever drank.

I wrote a full rating for this on a Smutty coaster but I see little reason to type it out. This beer is exactly what it claims to be and it plain nails it. Supremely drinkable and just awesome.

Cask at BT last week. Aroma crazy with mint, wintergreen, chamomile, all sorts of those herbally, tea notes with some smooth cocoa behind. Flavor again a blend of herbal and chocolate characters. After the initial smells and sips were shocks to the senses, it became a bit dull after awhile for me, but still interesting and very good.

Cask at Blind Tiger: I’m glad I got to try this one. Deep murky brown with a well retained khaki head. Big chai aroma- some cinnamon notes mesh with cocoa. Very interesting. Creamy and silky body. Starts off with straight chai- lightly spicy notes of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger leading to the solid base porter which gives off malt subtlties of cocoa and nutty crystal character. Mildly smooth roast in the finish. A very well done fusion of a solid porter and flavorful chai with no astringency. Good!

Cask at Blind tiger, what a weird brew, it was more like drinking chai tea, really nice spices and effervescent with how heavily spiced it is. I thought it was delicious but for small samples only.

Cask at Blind Tiger. Deep brown beer with a light tan coloured head. Aroma is quite lovely. Loaded with chai spice. Soft chocolate and cocoa topped with allspice, clove and cardamon. The flavour also has an unusual herbal/minty note that I’ve never gotten from chai tea... although I suspect this character might be the tea itself. It has a nice interesting cooling character that is really lovely. As it starts to warm I get more of the tea character with a touch of astringency as well. It is still a pretty nice brew and one I’d definitely sample again.

cask at blind tiger. Weird beer, it was my first cask beer so i don’t know how that changed anything but this was a crazy tasting beer. My initial reaction was it tastes like harpoon winter warmer mixed with vicks vapor rub. Like i said, weird

On cask at Blind Tiger. Pours black with a thick tan head. Aroma is super chocolatey with tons of spices (flowery, some pumpkin spices), definitely tea-like. Flavor is also super chocolate with some vegetal notes and a spicy, clove finish. So chocolatey. Well made, the spices and chocolate really complement each other. 8/4/8/4/15 (3.9/5)