Hoepfner Porter: A Porter with a German Twist
Jul 01 '01 (Updated Jul 04 '01)
The Bottom Line Fairly light for a porter, but may be the only one brewed in Germany. Could it be a lager influence? Offers excellent toffee-ish/toasty/smoky flavors.
Hoepfner Porter, Hoepfner, Karlsruhe, Germany
Those of you who have been reading my reviews regularly will have noticed a few recent additions that came from my subscription to Michael Jackson’s Real Beer Tour. Well I’m almost caught up on those now; with this review I’m right up to date, leaving only the July selection that came a couple of days ago.
The Germans are renown in the brewing industry for the widest range of bottom fermented beer styles. They achieve much of the character typical of the ale style in their lagers. I was surprised to read that Hoepfner brews the only porter in Germany. (I’m not sure of the date of this information or if it’s still true)
Porters – A Brief Explanation
Having started out in England as a mixture of three ale styles, porter was created as a beer style in its own right in London in 1730. Porters are typically dark, full-bodied, coffee-like ales and often regarded as a lighter version of stout (the earlier versions would probably have been heavier).
For a fuller explanation of porters check out bryan_carey’s article at:
http://andaryl.epinions.com/content_1428856964
or mrkstvns at:
http://andaryl.epinions.com/content_1549115524
Porter was Britain’s first nationally produced beer style and made its way into other parts of Europe. Other European brewers started to brew their own English-style porter.
Hoepfner
The name Hoepfner relates to a family of hop farmers, although it was actually a priest family member who founded the brewery in 1798. The new built brewery has been at its present location in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany since 1896.
Currently in its sixth generation of family ownership, the brewery has a capacity of 200,000 hectoliters and has resisted temptation of mass-production, priding itself on its “artisan” (craft) facility.
As they say on their corporate website, their long-term strategy is to make yesterday’s popular beer styles, popular today.
Hoepfner Porter
The Dressler brewing company of Bremen before it closed in the 1960’s brewed a popular porter. Hoepfner had also brewed a porter since the early 20th century until a weak demand forced it too to cease production sometime around 1980. Part of the reason for the rejuvenation of the porter style at the brewery can be attributed to German reunification and with it the rediscovery of East German black lagers (schwarzbier).
So porter made its return at Hoepfner in 1998, with the following specifications:
Original Gravity: 1065
Three Malts: Dark Munich, Crystal and Black
Color: 120 EBC (If anyone could explain this please leave a comment as I have only previously seen SRM)
Hops: Tettnang and Saaz
47 IBU (that’s pretty bitter for a porter)
5.8% ABV
Reinheitsgebot: Any beer from Germany is governed by the strictest of purity laws
Tasting notes
Upon opening the bottle I was welcomed by a pleasing “pfffft”. It pours to a very dark color, a ruby brown almost black, and it’s only possible to make out a little of the carbonation. There’s a more than adequate beautiful tan foam that’s both firm and enduring.
The nose is malty for sure, with a toasty caramel. The palate is not quite as impressive, slightly carbonated at first, a nice rounded softness, but overall fairly light. That does of course make for easy drinking.
There’s a light maltiness at first and a slight fruitiness, but the front of the palate is not too eventful. It does however improve in the middle bringing out an enticing caramel flavor, and a little chocolate, what you could call toffeeish. There’s a noticeably dry bitter finish that is slightly burnt and espresso-like. What remained was a long lingering aftertaste of well-balanced caramel malt and toastiness, even becoming smoky the longer I waited.
Overall
This was my first shipment from The Real Beer Tour and I was a little disappointed. It’s pretty light compared to other porters, something that would have to be influenced by the German lager tradition. More precisely it was the light body and the front of the palate that didn’t quite deliver enough. Should I be getting more generous or more cynical as I try more beers? It seems I go towards the latter, always looking for a beer that will sweep me off my feet. On the positive sight the latter palate and the aftertaste were excellent, especially enjoyable were the caramel flavor mixed in with the toasty dry finish.
It certainly would make a very good session beer, and I have to add would work well with food.
Food
What would work better with a porter than a Porterhouse Steak? Any kind of grilled steak would work great with this one and I would have to add some kind of thick spicy sausage.
Michael Jackson adds:
Baked ham with a sugary, caramelized glaze. (The Porter could be used in the glaze). Steak and oyster pie. Goulash. Pecan pie.
Further Information
Official Website (German or French only)
http://www.hoepfner.de/
Real Beer Tour (please email me first if you decide to join)
www.realbeer.com
Ratings
Appearance: 5/5 Aroma: 6/10 Palate: 3/5 Flavor: 7/10 Overall: 14/20
Score: 3.5
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Member: Andrew Smith
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