Name – Anchor Porter
Country – United States
Type – American Porter
Appearance – Pours a black color with some reddish tones around the edge of the glass when you hold it up to light. It had a nice tan head the left some lacing on the glass.
Smell – Sweet smells of caramel, toffee, chocolate and molasses with some roasted malt undertones.
Taste – Very much like the smell. Lots of the sweet tastes up front with a roasted backing to it. Extremely smooth.
This was a really good porter in my opinion. I know it may seem to have too many sweet tastes to it but I felt it wasn’t over board. The roasted malts brought everything together to even it out.
Overall Grade – A
5 Comments
This Anchor Porter is good. If you like Porters, Mike, I’ve got a few to suggest. My favorite, by far, is Samuel Smith’s Taddy (surprise there). Flag Porter is probably my second favorite. Meantime also makes a pretty good London Porter…don’t get the coffee one. My little brother really loves Porter. Here is a link to our article on Porter as a style and history. I’ve also included Flag because it has a immensely interesting story. http://thankheavenforbeer.com/2009/02/03/style-series-porter/
June 10, 2009 at 10:01 amhttp://thankheavenforbeer.com/2009/02/04/drink-with-us-friday-darwin-brewerys-flag-porter-or-rogue-imperial-porter/
I’ve never seen nor heard of Flag before. Probably something not readily available down here. I’ll have to check the English section for Meantime but it doesn’t ring a bell to me. Of course Sam Smith is readily available.
I looked at your articles and for the Rogue Imperial Porter I assume that is one of the large black ceramic bottles? If so I know I can grab that. I had Shipyards Imperial Porter not too long ago and it was good but I didn’t get anything crazy from it. We also have a brew pub called Brewzzis down here and I had their Imperial Porter and again I didn’t quite understand the Imperial part to it as it didn’t seem bigger than a normal porter.
June 10, 2009 at 10:12 amSome of those are harder to find. You are right to say that the black ceramic bottles is the Rogue one. Expect that to be Imperial. Generally, the terms will denote a stronger version of Porter. I suppose if you had a normal English Brown Porter, then the Imperial would be more like a robust version of Porter. A good example of robust Imperial Porter would be Old Leg Humper or Gonzo (by Flying Dog). I guess this is where it becomes more relative…Porter is notoriously hard to define as a style. But if people are used to English Brown Porters (let’s say the more mild version), then it’s not too hard to make or define another Porter as “Imperial”. Does that make sense?
June 10, 2009 at 10:17 amI get what you mean and as always your input is greatly appreciated.
June 10, 2009 at 5:29 pmThank you for saying so. The great thing is that this formally useless (or at least it fell on deaf ears) is now useful to people. I can’t help learning this stuff and sharing. I just love beer that much.
June 10, 2009 at 5:44 pm