Smuttynose Chai Porter

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

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.

EBF 2007: Pours a dark murky brown with a tan head. Aroma, spicy, and roasty, some chocolate. Flavor, nice spices again, roasty, some chocolate, and coffee. While I was getting the beer Sam from DFH came by and told the Smutty guys they needed to start bottling this stuff. I couldn’t agree more.

EBF 2007 - quite an interesting brew - regardless of the fact that all the chicks were flocking to this beer, I had to try it anyway - lots of cocoa and cardamom come wafting up from the glass - the flavor is much like their robust porter, only much more dry, with light herbal notes and lots of cocoa coming through - the chai/cardamom mixes with the roasty dry character to remind me a bit of turkish coffee - and I loves me some turkish coffee - very original stuff.

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)

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 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.

On cask at Redbones stout and porter dinner on 3/12/07
Dark ruddy-brown, with some deep tan highlights and a dark beige head that is moderately well-retained, providing light lacing. Clarity is medium.
Wonderfully fragrant, spicy nose is filled with cinnamon and ginger. Light breadiness behind it gives it a gingerbread-like nose. Dry hazelnuts, cream and very dry chocolate notes on the finish signify some porter qualities, but it’s not overly roasty. More like a lightly toasted/singed nuttiness and smoked cinnamon, not that that makes much sense. Definitely unique and interesting and much better than I expected. The nose mellows and the spiciness becomes more cohesive with the sweet maltiness behind it, as it warms/breathes. But every subsequent whiff always starts with that spicy cinnamon-gingerbread intrigue. Very strong aroma, no alcohol or flaws.
The flavor is just as full of chai, giving a milky, creamy and very spicy flavor. But the sweetness is rather high and helps soak up some of the spice. Vanilla, chocolate and ginger all mesh well together. Almost a chalkiness as well, from the chai, with an extremely soothing mouthfeel and low carbonation. Dry spiciness lingers on the finish, with a bit of breadiness and roast. No alcohol noted.
This batch had twice the amount of chai as the EBF batch (accidentally). I bet the EBF batch was REALLY good, as this one was just a bit too heavy on the chai, I think, despite still being 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.