Topic Archives: Porters
An espresso bean infused chocolate peanut butter porter: DuClaw Sweet Baby Java
Coffee meets chocolate meets peanut butter. DuClaw Sweet Baby Java is ready for the big time.
To date, the Maryland based brewery already has two peanut butter beers in their arsenal. The first – Sweet Baby Jesus!a, a chocolate peanut butter porter. Sweet BJ’s success opened the door for an even stronger brew peanut butter concoction, For Pete’s Sake. Both are a dream for peanut butter lovers. This spring, look for DuClaw Sweet Baby Java.
A few years ago, brewery founder Dave Benfield was at a beer event where Sweet Baby Jesus! was run through a Randall (think of it like a French Press of sorts) filled with coffee beans. The discovery he saids – was awesome.
The roasty flavor of coffee, peanut butter, and chocolate blended perfectly. We quickly kicked a half barrel. Since then we’ve regularly paired coffee with Sweet Baby at DuClaw events.”
Since that day, the brewery has been experimenting with various methods of infusing coffee in order to bring this beer into full production. A few dozen batches later, DuClaw Sweet Baby Java was ready for the big time.
Look for Sweet Baby in 12 ounce bottles and draft through spring, 2017.
Style: Porter (w/ Coffee. Peanut Butter, Chocolate.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft. Spring Seasonal.
Debut: February, 2017
?? ABV
Image: DuClaw Brewing
Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 17: Baltic porter
On Monday, January 16th, Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 17 will hit shelves.
A Baltic porter has been chosen for this 17th edition of Divine Reserve – a style that dates back to the 18th century (at least.) Baltic porters are much more robust then your average porter, as well as higher in alcohol by volume is higher.
RELATED: Saint Arnold Divine Reserve Series
The Saint Arnold brewing team used Munich malt, plus chocolate wheat and brown malt in order to give this beer a roasty flavor that isn’t overly cloying.
This was all achieved using a combination of Munich malt as the base malt with Chocolate Wheat and Brown malt to give the color and roast and flaked oats to round out the body. A healthy amount of Perle hops creates a balancing bitterness that is disguised by the body of the beer. The Old Bavarian lager yeast used in this beer is the same yeast used in Saint Arnold 5 O’ Clock Pils, Spring Bock and Summer Pils, and is the first lager brew for the Divine Reserve series.
Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 17 is available in 12 ounce bottles and draft at select locations in Texas and Louisiana.
Style: Baltic Porter
Hops: Perle
Malts: Chocolate Wheat, Munich, Borwn
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft
Debut: 1/16/17
8.8% ABV
Image: Saint Arnold
Spotlight: Baderbrau Christmas Bliss
Christmas in a can might be the best way to describe Baderbrau Christmas Bliss.
Baderbrau, a small brewery located on Wasbash Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, has a little can of Christmas for you. We can only assume the Chocolate Orange candy weighs a bit heavy on the inspiration for this Baderbrau creation. Terry’s, a British chocolatier, created the Chocolate Orange back in 1932. Their heavy advertising around the Christmas holiday turned it into a massive seasonal favorite in the U.K. 80 years later it is popular all over the world.
Since rich chocolate, fruits and candy are a seasonal staple this time of year, why can’t beer be the same? A Baltic porter serves as the backdrop for hints of orange and vanilla that Baderbrau has added. For as rich as this beer is, it’s far from heavy. Pints of this are easy to put down.
Tis the season of drinking with friends and family, and Baderbrau most certainly created Bliss with that idea in mind.
Baderbrau Christmas Bliss is available seasonally in 12 ounce cans and draft.
Style: Baltic Porter (w/ Orange, Vanilla)
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Latest Release:
SweetWater Pulled Porter (tastes like bacon) returns in cans
SweetWater Pulled Porter is returning the Atlanta, Georgia brewery’s lineup this week. The beer debuted a year ago as a part of the “Dank Tank” Series.
Pulled Porter unites SweetWater and Atlanta food icon Fox Brothers BBQ into one neat little pint. Sure, you could order some German smoked malt and brew up a rauchbier. That’s the easy way. The brewery is based in The South, land of barbecue. SweetWater’s head brewer Nick Nock took some of Pulled’s base grain to Fox Brothers and had them smoke the malt the same way they smoke their highly sought after pork and brisket. (See images below.)
While smoke beers might not be your style, Pulled Porter might just change your mind. The smokey flavor is very savory; reminiscent to flavors of cooked bacon, and less like a hot house fire. The remaining unsmoked malt gives this beer a touch of chocolate. Basically, a backyard BBQ beer that doesn’t get your hands sticky.
Not only is Pulled Porter back in action once starting this week, it is available in 16 ounce cans for the first time.
On the farm way too long, ol’ McDanko began showing some worrisome tendencies. Following a solid session in the hot box smoking malt, he was overcome by a methane cloud emoted from the herd. Ya heard? Reaching for the hops, he goofed and grabbed porky by the e-i-e-i-oh and plopped her in the brew kettle slow and low —that is the tempo. Knock knock —who’s them? It’s McDanko’s inbred neighbor, Geri Reynolds, swinging by delivering his deliverance with some fat back hem and some fat back them. Stepping out past some Foxy brothers picking a banjo on the porch to sample his wares, McDanko, doubled over the chopping block and squealed like a pig – wieii wieii — proclaiming this to be the most bodacious bacon beer brewed this side of the Chattoog-a!
Important to note, meant was not used during the brewing process. However, some of the malt was smoked in commercial smokers which IS home to meat for hours every day.
SweetWater Pulled Porter can be found on tap and 16 ounce cans. Expect cans on shelves across the brewery’s lineup sometime in December.
Style: Smoked Porter
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft.
Latest Return: December, 2016
7.7% ABV
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- Malt on the smoking racks at Fox Bros BBQ.
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- SweetWater malt being smoked at Fox Bros BBQ
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- Smoking temperature
Peanut butter lover? DuClaw For Pete’s Sake is back
Peanut butter lover? Put this on your drink list. DuClaw For Pete’s Sake is back in action as of today.
The brewery has two peanut butter infused beers. This all got started with Sweet Baby Jesus!, a 6.2% alcohol by volume porter, brewed with chocolate and peanut butter. That beer was/is an instant classic.
Why stop there, when you can make the beer stronger. That’s where DuClaw For Pete’s Sake came to be – an imperial chocolate peanut butter porter. Everything about this beer is rich. A mouthful of chocolate and peanut butter, with a warming 9% ABV finish.
…silky, full body, big roasted malt flavor, and aroma dominated by rich notes of peanut butter and chocolate…
DuClaw For Pete’s Sake is the last seasonal release by the brewery in 2016. Available in 12 ounce bottles and draft.
Style: Imperial Porter (w/ Chocolate, Peanut Butter.)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Latest Return: 11/30/16
9% ABV
Wicked Weed Hop Cocoa, with French Broad Chocolate
Wicked Weed Hop Cocoa is on deck from the Asheville, North Carolina based brewery.
The base beer is a porter, brewed with Dutch cocoa powder, and chocolate from local (pretty much across the street) French Broad Chocolates. The resulting beer is one Wicked Weed calls “silky smooth.”
While versions of this beer have appeared in the past, Wicked Weed tells Beer Street Journal that this recipe has never been offered before.
We crafted Hop Cocoa Brown to be a smooth porter that packs a potent chocolate punch into every sip. Authentic Dutch cocoa powder combines with robust, dark cocoa nibs from our neighbors at French Broad Chocolate Lounge to create a silky smooth balance with our heavy handed hopping process. This dark beauty is a comforting companion at the end or beginning, of any day! (Marshmallows not included.)
Wicked Weed Hop Cocoa will be a 12 ounce bottle release. The brewery has not yet announced this beer.
Style: Porter (w/ Chocolate)
Availability: 12oz Bottles, Draft.
Debut: Late November, 2016
6.5% ABV
Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea returns. Year 2.
Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea, a variant on the popular imperial porter is hitting shelves.
Much like the original, Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea features coffee and vanilla. The twist of course, is peppermint.
This Peppermint Victory at Sea is a festive take on our popular Imperial Porter. We took our trademark robust porter brewed with Caffe Calabria coffee and vanilla and added a dose of refreshing peppermint. The trio of flavors play perfectly on your palate – the brew’s sweet roastiness balances nicely with a cool, minty finish. You might even call it a breath of fresh beer.
Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea is a 22 ounce bottle offering. The flavor is much like the tried and true regular edition of Victory at Sea, with hints of peppermint throughout. For some, strong peppermint can be a turn off. Unless the 2016 edition upped the minty-ness, this beer drinks like a seasonal dessert.
Style: Imperial Porter (w/ Coffee, Vanilla, Peppermint)
Availability: 22oz bottles, Draft
Latest Release: Late November, 2016
10% ABV
