Stone Chipotle Smoked Porter

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Escondido, California USA

Growler: Pours a dark brown almost black with a slight tan head. The aroma is very subdued. The aroma is like the standard Smoked Porter. The initial taste is like the stand Smoked Porter but the finish is where the pepper makes it’s presence known. It’s subtle but you can sense the pepper character. The palate is good but not exceptional showing a soft character and limited mouth feel. That’s not bad. The overall taste is good and fits for the original style.

Had the privilege of trying this one at the brewery. Didn’t really see all that much difference from the regular smoked porter but it was still good. Maybe more chipotle flavor would make it even better.

Draft at the brewery. Smells a bit more smoky than the regular smoked porter. The flavor is very similar to the regular smoked porter with hints of chipotle. I would have liked more chipotle to separate it from its parent.

On tap at the brewery. Very much like the original but with a faint additional smokiness in the background of the flavor. This is recognizable as chipotle after further consideration. A fun beer with a great smooth body,

Smokier than I remember the original being, hard to say though. Mild spiciness to the aroma. Pours dark with a small amber head. Flavor is smoky, a little salty, roasty, with a nice spice in the finish. I’ve had some really bad chile beers, but this one ain’t bad. Nice and thick too.

Bought a 1L growler when at the Stone Brewery 11Jul2007. Pours dark brown in color with low carbonation. Nice roasted malt aroma. Decent cocoa notes with slight smokiness and very little chipotle flavor. Moderate burnt grain finish stays on the back of the palate.

Sampled from a 1 L growler 24 hours after being filled, May 2007
Still very well carbonated, it pours with an almost three-finger thick, frothy, pale brown colored head that sits atop a brilliantly clear, very dark brownish amber colored brew that you can just see through if you hold it up to a bright light. Quite malty smelling with notes of toasted malt, chocolate, browned biscuits, crusty-browned French bread and blackened raisins. I don’t really notice the chipotlé peppers in the nose at all.

There is a medium full thickness to this brew. Lightly phenolic with notes of woody smoke and perhaps a wisp of burnt plastic. I don’t really get the chipotle aspect; there is something that is almost plastic-like, perhaps leaning towards hot, but I am not sure this is very spicy at all. On the other hand I know that this was subtle, I am a chilé head and I know that chilé beers that are noticeable to others have only been subtle to my taste buds. I like the mix of burnt flavors, smoke and dark fruit notes here. Flavors of toasted malt, burnt grain, roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate.

Ok, there is something here in the finish which I would attribute to the chipotle chilés, but without knowing about it a priori, I would never have guessed there was something different about this beer.

Stone, the next time you make this you need to put in a lot more chipotlé peppers, this could work really well if properly spiced. I have added ½ a dried chipotlé at bottling time to each 22oz bottle of smoked porter and that is definitely way too much, but something like a ratio of 1/16th to 1/8th of a chipotle per 22oz bottle would probably be nicely spicy. In the end, I did notice, if you drink a lot more other beers, you can finally taste the chipotle flavors and not unconsciously think that you got ripped off by the Stone guys ;-)

1 liter growler via Wetherel, shared with Eyedrinkale thanks. Deep brown in color with no carbonation. Very still. Aroma is smokey but no chipolte, and the smoke is barely noticeable. Malty smokey flavor. Again barely any smoke their. Peppery flavor with chocolate notes. Ok beer. Needs more peppers.