Some associate St. Patrick’s Day with green beer, but it’s really all about the blackness, and with that in mind, we had an easy time deciding what to do with our March Beer Education Project tasting at Electric Burrito: Dublin Mojo.
But like the whole green beer thing, a little reading will reveal that stouts and porters are really quite rooted in London, not Dublin. I spent some time talking about history, trying to do porter’s esoteric life justice. I tried to be succinct. I tried to make Martyn and Ron proud.
We picked a wide array of brews within this family of styles, hitting on dry, sweet, oatmeal and Russian imperial.
The Beers: Hub City Olde Browne Porter, Fuller’s London Porter, Guinness Stout, Brau Brothers Cream Stout, Brau Brothers Whirly Bird Oatmeal Stout, Raccoon River’s Stonecutter Stout, Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout and Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout.
It was a good night of learning for everyone in attendance, and there were wide range of flavors noted in this handful of related beers. We talked about calories and body and chocolate and alcohol content and grains and flavors and misconceptions and aromas and the ridculous notion of tossing corned beef and cabbage inside a burrito.
And then we roasted marshmallows by candlelight to pair with the Sam Smith’s before draining the rest of the bottles on the table.
March 17, 2009 at 9:28 am |
Yo. Don’t leave us hanging. How were the beers? London Porter is one I’ve heard of but never tried. Sam Smith’s takes too much knife and fork action for me. Guinness is a little too bland now that I’ve been out and about a bit. What was your take?
(I have a soft spot in my heart for Sierra Nevada Porter, I must say, but that comes from nostalgia for my sudsy youth. I haven’t drunk it in a while and would not vouch for it without a more recent tasting
March 17, 2009 at 9:39 am |
[...] of last night’s beer tasting over on the brewvana blog, and you can check it out by clicking here. We had a good crowd and good beers and a good time. If you weren’t there, you should have [...]
March 17, 2009 at 9:50 am |
Sorry, Tom. Details, details. The Guinness was the least characterful beer of the night, hands down. The London Porter was good, but nothing like on cask. Some folks really favored the Hub City, and others did not. Raccoon River’s Stonecutter was well received by all. A large portion of the group, myself included, really enjoyed the Whirly Bird Oatmeal Stout from Brau Brothers. At only 7%abv, the Sam Smith’s is a pretty small RIS these days, but everyone liked it, and it tasted great with the roasted marshmallows. The Kalamazoo was an afterthought, as I had one bottle stashed for myself, but thought I should share. Everyone loved it. That’s a tasty beer.
March 21, 2009 at 6:53 am |
[...] Monday, we hosted a stout and porter tasting at the Burrito. Our buddy Adam brought along a friend who wasn’t a “dark beer” [...]