Michelob Porter

A couple of months ago, Anheuser-Busch had a promotion on Michelob, which consisted of a $15.00 rebate if you bought 4 six-packs. Now, I'm not a huge fan of A-B, and I rarely buy 6-packs, but this promotion appealed to my inner cheapskate. (My family would tell you that I don't have an inner cheapskate. It's very much out in the open. But I digress...) At any rate, a rebate of more than 50% got my attention, so I bought the four sixers, just to see what they're doing at A-B these days. To be honest, I'm kinda impressed. First off, I did not get my usual A-B headache from any of the Michelob varieties I have tried. Secondly, these beers are pretty good. Tonight's beer was Michelob Porter. Anyone that's read this blog for a while knows that Porter is my favorite beer style, which is why I named my dog Porter. Michelob's version of a Porter is nicely roasty, and quite dry. It has some chocolate flavor, but not sweet chocolate. It's probably a bit more carbonated than it should be, but it wasn't distracting. It poured a deep brown, with a small cream-colored head that dissipated pretty quickly. I enjoyed this beer, and I'm not concerned about having a full six-pack of it. The best part of this whole Michelob experiment is that the company was very prompt in getting my rebate to me. Kudos to Anheuser-Busch. I have a number of other varieties I'll be talking about in the near future.

Style Profile - Porter

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that Porter is one of my favorite styles of beer. I even named my dog Porter. The Porter style seems to have come into existence in the late 1600's or early 1700's in London. The story goes that it was named after the customers who preferred this dark style of ale - the porters at London's Victoria Station. It was originally brewed using brown malt, which was kilned over wood, giving the resulting ale a smokey flavor. Porter is now brewed with a lot of different grains, adjuncts and flavorings, but it is still basically a dark ale. It is a top-fermented beer, so it's a true ale. There are 3 basic forms of Porter - Brown, Robust and Baltic.

Brown Porter is the lightest of the three varieties, and generally has an alcohol content of 4-6%. Brown Porter is still more popular in England than in the US. It is light brown to dark brown in color and has almost no hop character. It will be light to medium in body. It may have a very light roastiness to it, possibly accompanied by some biscuit or chocolate notes. Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter is a good example of this style.

Robust Porter is a later development, and is Brown Porter's bigger, stronger brother. It's more popular in the US than in England. American brewers are always pushing the limits, and their Robust Porter varieties are a good example. We use everything from Maple syrup to Vanilla to flavor our Robust Porters. A Robust Porter usually is stronger than the brown variety, with an alcohol level of 5-7%. It is also darker, and roastier than it's little brother, with more hop presence. It is usually dark brown to almost black. Black patent malt is one of the ingredients common in this version of Porter. Anchor Brewing makes a good example of a Robust Porter.

The final version of Porter that I will mention is Baltic Porter. A Baltic Porter generally comes from one of the countries bordering the Baltic sea, such as Poland, Latvia, or Lithuania. Of course, there are some American brewers who are copying this version of Porter as well. Baltic Porters seem to have been influenced by Imperial Stouts, since they are bigger and sweeter than Brown or Robust Porters. A Baltic Porter may have a wine-like character, due to its higher alcohol levels - up to 10%. It will have very little hop flavor, and may be heavy in chocolate and sweet malt character. Like the Robust Porter, it is also very dark in color, possibly black with ruby highlights. Zywiec Porter, from Poland, is one of the better known Baltic Porters. Utenos and Aldaris are two other Baltic Porters.

Finally, here is a gratuitous picture of my Dachshund, Porter who hasn't got a clue about the origin of his name.

Orlando Brewing Blackwater Dry Porter

Tonight, I tried another brew from Orlando Brewing Partners - their Blackwater Dry Porter. This beer is almost black, with a small tan colored head. The first thing I noticed about this beer was the rich creamy mouthfeel. This is a dry Porter, just as it's described. It has a lot of coffee flavor from the roasted malts. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Orlando Brewing follows the German Reinheitsgebot, so this beer is made from malt, water, hops and yeast only. I'm impressed with this Porter, much more so than the Pale Ale I tried a while back. Some day, I need to get downtown to the brewery, to see what it's all about. In the mean time, I may just need to sample this beer again.