Stone Chipotle Smoked Porter

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

Don’t get a ton of nose. Smoked malts, dark chocolate, and a hint of earthy pepper notes. Dark brown pour with a thin beige head and wonderful lace. Flavors of smoke and chocolate, leather, dough, roast, and medium spicy pepper that chills way back on the palate and adds an interesting dry/spice in the finish. A great example of how heat can be used well in a beer. Solid.

GLASS: Mug TEMP: Approx 45 degrees Served from a Stone 1L Growler Aquired via trade This pours a dark copper/amber color. It’s slightly murky looking. A very thin, tan colored, head forms and quickly recedes. There is not much lacing to speak of. The nose has a big smokiness. Lots of smoked malt notes. Hints of dark chocolates. Nice notes of wood smoke. Hints of char. Very good hint of spicey, smokey peppers. Traces of leather and tobacco. This is bigger and more smoke filled than ’regular’ Stone Smoked Porter. The smoke level is boosted, almost to the level of Schlenkerla. Good presence of smoked maltiness and campfire smoke. Lots of leather notes. Smoked pepper (chipotle) notes are very nice. The finish is smooth and mildly dry. Then the pepper heat kicks in. It’s really more of an aftertaste, but it’s really good and not easily overlooked. It’s enough heat to make you reach for another drink, to cool it down. The heat builds with each successive swallow, until you’ve got a nice level of burning going on your throat.....and yet, you still want more. Full-bodied, but with a mild level of carbonation that makes it seem thin. It would really benefit from a slight boost here. Smooth, but seriously lacking in creaminess. The heat build-up could certainly be a bit too much for some people, I’d think. I like it, though. I’d love for Stone to put out something like this on a semi-regular basis. Very good.

On cask at the Stone Bistro.. Pours black with a creamy egg shell colored head.. Aroma was hickory, smoke and beef jerky.. Flavor was smokey and roasty like the original with the spicyness coming at the end that burns the throat just a tad.. Good but I prefer the vanilla bean out of all the different variations.

Cask at Stone. Hazy brown body tan head. Coffe chocolate and roast on the aroma. Also vanilla and pepper. Chocloaye light heat wood. Light bubbles.

On cask at the linkery in San Diego.... Deep brown kind of cloudy in color with a thick tan head... Reddish tint... Aroma is smokey, faint hint of spice... Flavor is slightly smokey and malty initially, but finish is outrageously spicy, just annihilates your palate... Really interesting beer, wouldn’t drink more than one though.

Name: Smoked Porter, Chipotle
Date: May 13, 2009
Mode: Firkin
Source: Taco Mac, Duluth
Appearance: black, frothy tan head, lots of lace
Aroma: smokey aroma with a touch of hot pepper, hint of dark chocolate
Flavor: hot pepper flavor is up front and builds with each quaf, light smoke grows and melds well with the pepper, dark chocolate base is way in the background but provides the needed balance, pepper heat lasts in a forever finish as a good pepper should
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.3/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: **+/4

Growler (one liter) from brewery. Pours a Pepsi caramel black color with a thick and creamy beige head that lasts for a while, leaving great lacing. Aroma is on the subtle side -- only slights notes of roasted malt with some smoky pepper. Flavor starts out smooth with just a little smoke and the roasted malts at first. But the pepper quickly kicks in, the spiciness builds, and then lingers. Medium body and dry finish. Lingering spiciness in the finish which I quite like. This beer makes sense to me -- add the delicious smoked jalapenos to the already smoked beer. This is not a novelty beer, and actually quite well done. Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t mind if it had a bit more of the chipotle.