Taddy Porter - Samuel Smith Old Brewery

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter: This beer needs no fancy introduction. It is, by many accounts, the gold standard of porter beer. If you desire more than that just drink the damn thing.

ABV: 5%
Serving Type: 12oz. bottle

Appearance: Black with a burgundy glow. A fairly firm dark tan head (my picture notes an abnormally huge wad from a sloppy pour, disregard). Sits pretty nicely and leaves behind a nice lacing.

Smell: Earthy roasted malts and barley. Lots of nose. A little noticeable hop creeps out from behind the barley.

Taste: Nutty on the takeoff. Roasted mocha tones throughout. A hint of red wine earthiness. Sugary malts coat the mouth and linger.

Mouthfeel: Very pleasing on the tongue. Firm but completely unobtrusive in the mouth. A low carbonation feel. Not bubbly at all, just enough firm carbonation to help it down. Not exactly smooth, but closer to that than grainy.

Drinkability: This is a well balanced beer. As I've said before, I tend to favor slightly bigger beers. That being said, this one's not too weak to pass the mark, it's got excellent flavor, and it doesn't sit heavy in the gullet or the gut. It's a little pricey, but worth shelling out for. Apparently the only drinkability note that I deemed worth writing down was "extremely, I want another," which says pretty plainly that this beer invites one in for a full night of dinner, dancing, and home-run level action sure to leave an impression.
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Links:
Samuel Smith Old Brewery Website
Beeradvocate Page
ratebeer Page

Belhaven Scottish Ale - Belhaven Brewery

Don yer best tartan kits, because today we're heading across the pond. Belhaven brewery has bestowed upon Floridian beverage distributors a number of it's sundry sauces, direct from Scotland. It's assured that this is the first, and a safe bet that it will remain the only, brewery from East Lothian to come across my humble beer review. There are a handful of tempting brews from Belhaven, and the first I've chosen to take a crack at is their Scottish Ale.

ABV: 5.2%
Serving Type: 12oz. bottle

Appearance: Golden brown in color leaning toward the red end. Medium-thin looking body on a delicate pour. A crisp, bubbly, and surprisingly firm off-white head hangs around the glass nicely.

Smell: Very creamy malt nose with sugary sweet and caramel tones heavy. There is also noticeable grain note. Overall fairly clean, but with no bitterness or hops discernible.

Taste: Tastes almost identical to the smell. Creamy malt in the front, sweet, caramel, maybe some toffee, very light hops. No bitterness at all. Smooth but not buttery, some crisp cleanliness about the flavor.

Mouthfeel: Thicker than expected. The pour looked a little on the thin side, but it coats the mouth and hangs nicely on the palette.

Drinkability: If I were in Scotland more often I think I'd be happy to have dram upon dram (I know that term is for Scotch, but I don't have a Scotch review, so I'm going with it). As with most of the beers that have graced the review so far, it's tasty and very drinkable for the sweet-toothed kind. Weighing in at 5.2%, it's not terribly strong. I'd prefer it a bit bigger, because it seems to me like this type of flavor profile handles high ABV pretty well. Also I'm a more swerve for my coin type of guy. The price point is fairly friendly for a beer of this level, at around $10/six pack. It's definitely worth a try and I look forward to having another go at it.
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Links:
Belhaven Brewery Website
Beeradvocate Page
ratebeer Page

Red Brick Porter - Red Brick Brewing Company

I've had a rather protracted siesta from writing since I tackled the last brew review and I have a stack of beer notes piling up on my desk. A few weeks ago I decided to cut back my beer consumption to weekends only in a weak attempt to stay in shape and not become an alcoholic. If I can make myself crank out some catch up reviews I should be able to fall into a regular two or so new reviews per week. We'll see how that works...

To ease back into things I've decided to dig out the notes on yet another brew in what is easily one of my favorite styles, the Porter. This one made the short trip down from Atlanta, provided by my new good friends at the Red Brick Brewing Co. (formerly Atlanta Brewing Co.). You may know the name already from their quirky and ultra-recognizable Amber Ale, Laughing Skull. The Porter is the first beer I've tried out of Red Brick, and it was relatively blind. I hadn't heard much about them before buying this one, but their distinctly Southern sit-around-and-drink-beer-time air and "Beer from Around Here" slogan tickled my fancy just how I like it.

Appearance: Medium thick on the pour with a clear walnut brown body. A fat, sticky, two finger beige head propped istself up from a gingerly pour, and stuck around for the full dirt-lip tour.

Smell: On the first pass a pure chocolate aroma dominated. After giving it a few goes around I could pick out a bit of hops and sweet sugar cane, but it mostly smells of scandalous chocolate on top of chocolate action.

Taste: A simple and unassuming chocolate taste. Very smooooth (my notes directly indicate the smoothness factor of 4 "o"s) and a little sweet, but well balanced.

Mouthfeel: Coats the mouth nicely and hangs on the tongue just enough. Velvety smooooth feel following the taste's lead. If anything a little too thin for the taste and style.

Drinkability: Again quoting directly from my notes, "Yes!". With a little more thickness in the mouth and a sucker-punch of robustness or bitter in there I might be a fanboy. It's simple, it's got great flavor and it's very yummy for the drinker with a tiny bit of a sweet tooth. Fans of the American Porter at large should definitely give it a go. I would gladly drink this one all bbq long, and surely will at some point in time, hopefully soon.
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Links:
Red Brick Brewing Co. Website
Beeradvocate Page
ratebeer Page

Retro Red - Ft. Collins Brewery

Ft. Collins Brewery! Welcome to the blogosphere, lad. We're happy to have you here today to help us tap into the beloved red ale style. We've been looking forward to kicking this one off with a bang and we're lucky to have you here with us. What's that you say? You've got a tasty red in the back, held out for just such an occasion? Well played, boy! Let's get to it then!

Appearance: Ruby red and crystal clear, without the head I'd have thought it to be cranberry juice. Three-finger St. Augustine sand colored head that went as fast as it came and left no lacing behind.

Smell: Caramel malt, sliiiiiiight foot skunkiness (I'll disclaim that my sinus congestion may have handicapped me here).

Taste: Kind of citrusy, crisp and present hops. Sweet malt finish and lingering aftertaste. Fuller flavor than expected. Extremely well balanced.

Mouthfeel: Light body, bordering on thin. Good low amount of carbonation that met my desire nicely.

Drinkability: This one is juicy and refreshing. It's not the best red I've ever had, mostly because I'm not keen on citrus, but it's very nice. The balance is better than most reds that I've tried by keeping the malt flavor from weighing down everything else. As the brewery is re-introducing this beer in 2011 as the Red Banshee, I'm certain I'll be trying it again soon and wouldn't stray away from it on tap.
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Links:
Ft. Collins Brewery Retro Red Page
Beeradvocate Page
ratebeer Page

AmberBock - Michelob Brewing Co.

Today's review leads us into the world of American mega-brewing. With Michelob, as with the other American giants, there seems to be very little attention paid to craft. These breweries tend to focus their efforts on volume and price, leaving me with very little to expect when trying their beers. AmberBock is bottled and advertised to entice cheap beer drinkers looking to take a step up to craft brewing. The campaign has a more refined and special air than generic american lagers and ales. So does Michelob step up the beer quality along with the ad scheme? Let's go inside.

Appearance: In somewhat dim lighting it looks to be a rich brown, almost walnut. The pour is watery, with an instantly vanishing white 1/3 inch head.

Smell: There is hardly anything at all to the nose. A very generic american lager smell is there, without noticeable malt, and very un-bock like.

Taste: From the malts, the taste pulls a bit of roasty nuttiness. There is a sweetness and a tiiiiiny bit of bitter sting from either weak hops or carbonation. The most prominent feature of the taste is the lack of flavor. A distinctly weak and watery vibe.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation passes straight through and it washes down like water. Again, very un-bock in character. Not bad as a meal accompaniment/beer flavored food wash.

Drinkability: In a word, nah. I will say that Michelob has stepped up from the regular bud/coors/michelob fare. This beer has a somewhat pleasant flavor deeeeep down. On the website Michelob claims to have a balanced beer here, but unless they mean balancing amounts of actual beer and tap water I would tend to disagree. AmberBock has failed to surpass even my outrageously low expectations of it. It is absolutely not what I want from a bock beer. It's not terrible, it's just not any good. I would rather drink this than other American macro-brew varieties, but I will not seek it out or buy it at any time in my life.
*Note to Michelob: please spend more money on brewing beer and less money on marketing beer.
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Links:
Michelob.com AmberBock Page
Beeradvocate Page
ratebeer Page