Stone's other Smoked Porter

Author's note: I promise my next review will be for a more "normal," less weird beer.

Yesterday I posted my review of Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean.  I ended it by mentioning I had a bottle of their chipotle version that I would drink later that night, which I did.

Beer brewed with peppers is currently a very small niche in the American craft brewing scene.  Most seem to be relegated to brewing contests or festivals, where they are released as special one-offs.  I have only ever seen four beers in a store brewed with chile peppers, and only tried two of them until now: Great Divide Chocolate Oak-Aged Yeti, which is brewed with chocolate and cayenne (and which was great); and Crazy Ed's Cave Creek Chili Beer, which is brewed and bottled with jalapeno peppers  (which was every bit as awful as its reputation).  Rare as they are now though, with the continued growth of the Latino population I think we can expect more beers brewed with peppers.  I can already think of at least one craft brewery that makes Latin-themed beer.



This one looks almost exactly the same as the vanilla version, which is to say it looks almost the same as the regular version.  It is nearly pitch-black (barely transparent) with about two fingers' worth of foam on top.  The foam is where this version deviates slightly in appearance.  It is several shades darker than the near-white foam that sat atop the vanilla version.

I have had few foods cooked with chipotles, so I had to look up what they are.  A chipotle pepper is a jalapeno pepper that has been smoked.  So I was not surprised to find that this version was significantly smokier than both the vanilla and spice-less Smoked Porter.  The smoke comes across more forcefully in the aroma, bringing suggestions of Tex-Mex and earthy barbecue flavors.  When I got around to actually drinking it, which took a while (hey, it smells great!) I found that the beer starts off sweet and smoky but finishes on a pronounced spicy note.  It is by no means overpowering, however---and I say this as someone who rarely eats spicy food.  The beer as a whole is probably too intense for people just getting used to strong beer, but craft beer veterans wary of overly-spicy beer need not worry.  The overall texture of the beer is much the same as its cousins: not as smooth and creamy as most porters, but still very drinkable.  No obvious carbonation flaws, and not oily like some stouts.



I wholly expected to like the vanilla version the best, and this one the worst.  However, this beer now rivals vintage Old Guardian as my favorite Stone beer.  It also makes me want to try more spicy foods, which I generally avoid.  Well done!


For more info, see my previous post on the Vanilla version.