Stone 6th Anniversary Porter

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Escondido, California USA

Very deep brown hue with a large creamy tan head and very good lace. Malty caramel, chocolate, and smoky aroma. Additional hints of plum, vanilla, espresso, oakwood and pine. Nice and big, in your face, smoky and malty sweet taste. Undertone of apricot, coffee, bitter chocolate, hoppy pine and twinge of alcohol. The smoke stays on the palate long after the brew is gone. Lush and soft mouthfeel accompanied this full-bodied porter. A very well done brew with nice changing complexity during the tasting.

hoppy alcoholic and choclate aroma, dark with a nice khaki head, strong alcohol sweetness into smoky choclate that finishes with roastiness then berry sweetness and lingering grapefruit hoppiness

I thought this beer was good but wasn't quite up to what I usually expect from Stone. Bring back the Anniversary IPAs please.

Deep mahagony body pours with a moderate tan head that seems very dense and creamy. The head slowly fades to a more modest layer of foam that leaves a nice lacing on the glass. Sweet and fruity aromas are barely perceptible as the beer sits on the desk in front of me. Close up, a strong dark fruit and chocolate aroma similar to raspberry hot chocolate dominates the nose, but some smoky roasted notes and a bit of hops are present as well. The taste is phenomenal, with sweet malt, strong coffee, roasted malt, burnt marshmallows, and smoldering pine all assaulting my taste buds. Ghostlike alcohol esters hover above the action, filling the rest of my mouth with the prescence. But then the sultry body massages the tongue, and I seem to forget about the brash assault it just recieved. The only memory is a lingering smoked pine taste.

Same appearance as their smoked porter. Much hoppier aroma, more edgy, not really smoky enough. More on the hop side than the chocolate one. I like the original one much better.

Sampled Sep 12, 2003
This is a pitch black beer with notes of deep brown. It pours with a dark brown head which is dense, creamy and pretty persistent. The aroma is one of malt, roasted malt with a bit of smoke and perhaps a hint of alcohol in the nose. There is a nice thick mouthfeel to this one, and it gently coats your entire mouth. The finish has a hint of alcohol. There is lots of smoky malt flavor in this beer as well. The roasted notes remind me of coffee. A bit of sweetness becomes evident as it warms up. This beer feels thick, almost oily on my tongue, the smoke only reinforces this perception. This 22 oz bottle is a meal unto itself. Overall a fairly solid beer, I like it.

Very well done. Nice black color with great coffee flavor. The hint of choclate at the end does wonders. A great beer.

Tan head, almost black color. Foamy head. Malty aroma, alcohol detected, sweet and strong smell. Flavor is slightly smokey, with strong, malty flavor. Strong alcohol aftertaste. Not for the weak. Very excellent.