Smoked Porter - Stone Brewing Company

The autumn weather of the past several weeks has got me into mood for some nice, dark, roasty beers. As I have perused the shelves of my favorite beer stores over the past few years I’ve noticed Stone Brewing Companies’ Smoked Porter repeatedly, but for some reason never actually drank one. I have enjoyed a number of Stone’s other beers such as Arrogant Bastard Ale and Ruination IPA, so I decided to give it a taste.

Stone Brewing Company was founded in 1996 by Steve Wagner and Greg Koch. The pair initially met in 1989, and realized that their tastes in beer were similar when both attended a class on tasting beer taught at UC Davis. Steve was already an experienced brewer at this point, and Greg an accomplished business man, so they decided to open a brewery together a few years later. The brewery has since moved from its original site in San Marcos to a larger facility in Escondido where they now operate a larger brewing system with a capacity of 70,000 barrels per year, with room to expand.

The beer poured black with a finger of light brown head, which revealed a clear, deep red hue when held up to the light. The head had a fairly coarse texture, but the retention was surprisingly good. The aroma consisted mainly of a roasty maltiness which was accentuated by a slight smoke character and some faintly bitter, burnt notes from the malt. When tasted the beer had a surprising sweetness; not overly sweet, but I had expected a much drier beer. The sweetness actually provided a nice touch, since it offset the bitterness. The body was actually fairly thick, but I did not notice this at first due to the fairly high carbonation level. The aftertaste was quite bitter, and the body left a sensation of something thick coating my mouth. The smokiness came out towards the end of the taste, lingering on with the bitter notes.

This beer turned out to be significantly different than I expected, which is in part because smoked porters are not a recognized style of their own, but mostly my fault. The Beer Judge Certificate Program recognizes only one distinct style of smoked beer (Classic Rauchbier), with all others lumped together in “Other Smoked Beer”. This being said, smoked beers have become a bit of a fad recently at some local breweries (Victory has had both Smoked Porter and Smoked Weizenbock on tap, in addition to their Rauchbier), with one of the common variants being a Smoked Russian Imperial Stout. For some reason this is what I expected, and I was very pleasantly surprised by restrained character of the Stone Smoked Porter; its far more like a Robust Porter than a Russian Imperial Stout.

Porters are generally served in pint glasses or a stein, which is quite convenient for most people. I would recommend pairing this one with pretty much anything that has been smoked (yes, bacon does pair well with pretty much everything), but I think it will go well with some slightly sweet things as well. Cured or seasoned meats, especially sausages like bratwurst, should go well with this beer, especially if you are willing to fire up the grill for a late-season barbecue. One thing that is suggested on the Stone website that I will try the next time is chocolate; I think the roasted malt character will blend nicely, especially with the darker varieties.

Overall, this was a smooth and well balanced beer that I would recommend to anyone who wants to try a porter. The beer is surprisingly approachable, with the smoked character adding some complexity to a very good robust porter instead of trying to overshadow it.

Size: 22 oz

Price: $7.95

ABV: 5.9%

Look: 4/5

Smell: 4/5

Taste: 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: 3.5/5

Dark Hefeweissbier - Weihenstephaner

Wheat beers have held a certain fascination for me ever since I tried my first one at Victory Brewing Company. For some reason I’m drawn to the swirling of the yeast and protein in the glass and the bready and fruity tastes of these beers, resulting in the vast majority of the beers I brew at home being weizenbocks. Lately I’ve made a point of trying some of the progenitors of my favorite styles, which led me to this week’s Dark Hefeweissbier from Weihenstephaner.

Weihenstephaner is actually the oldest documented continuously operated brewery in the world, having been established prior to 1040 in the city of Freising, Germany. The brewery was founded on the grounds of Weihenstephan Abbey by Augustinian monks and remained in their hands until it was nationalized by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803. The brewery is now known as the Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan and operates both as a commercial brewery and a teaching facility for the Technical University of Munich. Currently available are eleven beers, ranging from a light wheat to a pilsner to a traditional bock.

This is a good opportunity to comment on some of the distinctive characteristics of wheat beers. These beers are fairly unique in that the yeast produces a distinctive combination of phenols and esters, for a reason that I have yet to find a definitive explanation for; some say it’s the specific yeast strain itself that puts off these byproducts, while others say it’s the wheat malt which reacts with yeast in general to form them. I think it’s probably a combination of the two, but for our purposes it really doesn’t matter. Phenols are a group of compounds which contain a carbon ring with alternating single and double bonds that has a hydroxyl group tacked on the side. Molecules from this family, especially 4-vinyl guaiacol, are responsible for the spicy “clove” character common in these beers. Esters are chemical compounds created by reacting an acid containing a carbon double bonded to an oxygen with a molecule containing a hydroxyl group, such as an alcohol or a phenol. There are many types of esters, but the subset of interest is responsible for the smell of many fruits, such as strawberries, plums and bananas. If you think your beer smells like a certain fruit, it’s probably because the yeast is producing the same, or a very similar, ester to the one in the fruit itself.

One last topic before we end today’s chemistry lecture; the “bread” taste in many wheat beers. What you actually taste is the yeast, as this is what you taste in bread. The starches making up flour are generally too long to deliver tasting much sweetness of their own, even though they are chains of linked sugars, so without the yeast the bread would be much blander, like a cracker. German wheat beers such as hefewizens actually have their own dedicated style of glassware, known as a Weizen Glass because of this. This glass is narrower at the bottom of the glass than the top, flaring at the base and curving in at the lip, to showcase the turbidity and color of the beer while still retaining room for the large head.

The beer poured a hazy dark golden brown color with two fingers of long lived, pillowy off-white head. The color is actually towards the dark end for this style, which ranges up to a pale straw like a Belgian Witbier, and the head is typical of unfiltered wheat beers. The aroma was low in intensity, but surprisingly dominated by apple and some plum with only a little bit of the bready yeast and spiciness showing through. Most beers of this style have a much stronger spicy character, often described as smelling like clove, and more of a banana smell, although the lack of a hop aroma is normal.

The first impression from this beer is that it is quite smooth and drinkable. The yeast taste in this beer is present but not overpowering, fading into a slightly sweet malty finish. The taste was nicely accented by citrus and spice notes, which were just enough to keep the beer interesting without making it harder to approach. The mouthfeel was full bodied, although initially it thinned out towards the end with due to the moderate carbonation present.

The taste is a bit more malt focused, especially towards end, than I expected from a hefeweizen, and while it has a yeast presence, overall the beer is fairly restrained. This beer actually reminded my more of a slightly weaker weizenbock than it did of American hefewizens, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer, and I will probably be adding it to the battery of beers I give to new drinkers since it was so smooth.

Size: 16.9 oz

Price: $4.35

ABV: 5.3%

Look: 4.5/5

Smell: 4/5

Taste: 4.5/5

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Organic Cider - Samuel Smith's Old Brewery

As much as I am a die-hard beer lover, I also enjoy many other types of alcoholic drinks. As such, I’ve happily watched the revival of other classic alcoholic styles alongside the microbrewery and American wine boom. Some of these traditions are still relatively obscure, such as mead or rye whiskey, but one that has made substantial headway is hard cider. Many dismiss this as a girly drink, but its growing popularity demands a hard look.

Ciders traditionally were consumed in much larger quantities than they are now, largely due to the ease and low cost of production. Cider is actually much more closely related to wine or mead than to beer, since they already contain simple sugars instead of longer chain carbohydrates. Making alcohol out of grains requires a lengthy mashing process at elevated temperatures so that the enzymes present within the grains can digest the carbohydrates into simple sugars which yeasts can digest. This means that the apples simply need to be pressed so that the juice can be recovered, instead of requiring a full brewery to be set up. Growing apple trees and harvesting enough apples to create cider is also a lot easier than raising and harvesting enough grain to brew beer, at least without power equipment.

These conditions conspired to make cider a popular alternative, especially on the frontier where labor, space and equipment were at a premium. John Chapman, more commonly known as Johnny Appleseed, actually managed a network of apple orchards which provided apples for cider and saplings to other residents of the area. Cider remained popular until prohibition, when the industry was largely destroyed because of the utter worthlessness of cider apples for anything else.

A quick digression on that last point is in order, as apples are a bit odd. When you plant an apple seed, you never really know what you will get, since the apple genome is extremely complex. It is actually quite rare to get an apple that is both pretty looking and good tasting. When an apple with desirable traits is found it is propagated through grafting, which generates a clone of the original tree. This means that all apples of a certain variety where actually grown on genetically identical trees, even if the orchards are on different continents. The vast majority of apple trees grown from seeds produce apples that look funny or taste a bit odd, but when blended together these produce a much more complex cider. Unfortunately, most modern apple orchards cater towards the fresh fruit market, leaving a much poorer variety of apples to make cider out of.

The cider in question this week is actually from the same brewery as last week’s Nut Brown Ale, namely Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider. This is an old independent brewery in England, and their beers are consistently excellent. I’m actually not sure what the proper glassware is for a cider, but I generally see them served in pint glasses, so I’d go for that. The bottle actually suggests a large number of food pairings, which include salads, pork and anything mildly spicy. I found the suggestions for spicy foods to be surprising, but in hindsight I think it actually has a lot of potential.

The cider poured a brilliantly clear straw color, foaming a bit while poured but quickly settling out so that no head was apparent; a slight ring of foam was left around the edge of the glass, but the average ginger ale has more head. The aroma was a nice, tart apple scent, although initially a slight sweetness was evident. The taste was quite light overall, with an overarching tannin tartness similar to red wine or fresh fruit backed up by a sweet backbone. As the cider warmed up, this tartness largely disappeared, leaving an almost cloying sweetness. The cider actually had quite a full body, especially at lower temperatures, which was not offset at all by the low carbonation. Overall, this cider had a fairly weak flavor but was pleasant to drink.

This cider is actually noticeably smoother, although weaker, than bar staples such as Woodchuck and Strongbow. Personally, though, I found it and all the other commercial ciders I’ve tried to remind me of alcoholic apple juice rather than a true cider, such as the stuff I get in Lancaster. I still enjoy them from time to time, and I’m excited by the interest in this field, but it’s not hard to produce a far more complex cider in your basement.

Size: 18.7 oz

Price: $6.50

ABV: 5.0%

Look: 3/5

Smell: 3/5

Taste: 3/5

Mouthfeel: 2.5/5