Missed it by that much, Chief.
Written: May 02 '01 (Updated May 02 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A porter that's obviously an ale. That's rare, and precious.
Cons: So overdone in roasted malts that it's hard to tell.
The Bottom Line: It coulda been a contender. This is a fine example of the character failure of American microbrewing. A beer that tries too hard, when it could have been really enjoyable.
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| beerfly's Full Review: Sierra Nevada Porter |
Pure sensorial today, folks, no stories. Dig in.
The beer pours dark, but not opaque. There's that beautiful tint of garnet deep in the brown, caught by the thick bottom of the half-size weissbier glass I'm using for tasting. There's a lot of head, but it's settling nicely: it's a bit darker than clean parchment, and spotted with darker areas.
The smell is distinctively Sierra Nevada, with its clean hop fragrance and mild alefruit... up to a point. But then you realize that there is a whole layer of roasted coffee and cocoa lurking under that familiar friendliness. Not huge, not intrusive, but there, peeking through as you move your nose around. That concerns me a bit; this is a porter, not a stout. Sure it's American, but standards must be maintained.
Let's taste it. Hmmmm... Concern confirmed. This is a porter, and they've got the porter body down perfectly: light, quaffing-weight stuff that should pour down the throat easily, not hanging up on uvula or tonsil for more than a quick howdy before quenching on down. The hop flavor is nice, a green pineyness in the back of the mouth.
But by the mythical wooden spoon, Sierra's American archetyping betrays it here. There is a tendency in American microbrewing to go over the top, especially in the west. (Here in the east we're restrained even when we go over the top.) SN's Porter goes over the top for what it is. There's too much bitterness, too much roastiness here for the frame of the beer.
Porter's for drinking, drinking in great quantities, even more so than stout. This porter, though, catches in the mouth just as you should be opening wide for the next big swallow. When you come up for air from a big swaller, you realize just how bitter and roasty this beer is, and there's nothing there to cushion it, as there is in Sierra's superlative Stout.
The flavors are keen, and I like hoppy beers, and I like roasty beers--well, I like roasty stouts. But I'm not a big fan of roasty porters. The roastiness is calming some as the beer warms, but it still hammers deep into the roof of my mouth. This isn't right, and I'm not happy.
What's good? There are things, to be sure. For one thing, the Sierra Nevada yeast comes through sure as clockwork: this is an ale first, deep in its soul, and you can taste that roundness and fruitiness. The aforementioned body is just about perfect. And I'm a sucker for hop flavor.
But all three of those beautiful things are covered with a tarry layer of overdone roastiness and out-of-place bitterness. It seems a shame to me. This takes a definite backseat to the lamented and resurrected Catamount Porter, a stunningly luscious beer with all its elements in balance. I just don't care if it's a west coast beer and therefore goes bats on hops and roasted malts: if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
American archetype? Maybe. Beloved of the geekerie? Could be. Getting 5 stars from yours truly?
Not a chance.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
beerfly
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Member: Lew Bryson
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 82 members
About Me:
One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer, eh? I'll take Kentucky Spirit, Scapa, and HopDevil.
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