I've got some more porter reviews for tonight. First up is the Southern Tier Porter. I paid $1.85 for an undisclosed ABV beer.
The beer pours with very little head, in spite of an aggressive pour. It doesn't smell all that much, though, which is disappointing. On tasting it, I'm sorely disappointed. There's a little bit of coffee and the idea of hops, but the malt backing it all is just downright watery. This beer is a hollow shell of a porter. I'm going to give this beer just [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], and I really thought about going with 1.5. There's just not much behind this beer, and I definitely prefer the JW Dundee's.
Up second will be Sierra Nevada's Porter. I haven't reviewed enough of their products, and given that this is beer pretty much everyone can get, I should do more. I paid $1.89 for a 12 oz bottle, and you Californians will know where to shove that bottle if you chime in and tell me you regularly get sixers for $3.99.
Hmmm. Apparently I forgot to take a pic of this beer in the glass. Oh well. It's almost identical in appearance to the Southern Tier.
This beer again pours with very little head. This beer also pours with very little head. It smells more, though. The dominant smell is earthy, with a little bit of hops. The earthiness comes through in the flavor, too. The hops are quite mild. The coffee flavor is much weaker in this beer than most of the other porters, save the Southern Tier, I suppose. There isn't a whole lot backing this beer, either, unfortunately. At least there is a little bit of hops flavor to linger in my mouth a little longer. I still prefer the JW Dundee's, though. I'm going to award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
And finally, I'm going to give one last chance to the Anchor brewery with their porter before I decide that this is just a mediocre-to-bad brewery that charges too much for their beer. I paid $2.35 for a 12 oz of this one.
Again we have a practically headless beer. At least I can smell it without sticking my nose all the way in the glass, though. This beer smells quite a bit different. It smells syrupy, and without hops. Unsurprisingly, this is a sweet beer. It's not as sweet as some of the Belgians and the like, but it's way sweeter than the average porter. The hops are almost nonexistent, and the coffee flavor is not there much, either. Instead, we get some maple syrup, a little caramel, and a little chocolate on top of of the dark malt. To me, this beer reminds me less of a porter and more of a watered down imperial stout. I'd say I like this somewhere between the SN and the JW Dundee's, although it's not really a proper porter. It doesn't have the right hop character. I'm going to award it a tentative [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. This would be a good beer for imperial stout lovers to drink when they aren't looking to get wasted on a single beer and want something a little milder, but if you're a porter lover looking for the next big thing, you're really better off with the JW Dundee's.