The Bottom Shelf

Craftsman Aurora Borealis and Stone Smoked Porter

Greg and I went to Lucky Baldwins late last night for a couple of beers, and I must say it was my favorite single Luckys experience yet.

I always enjoy going to Luckys. They have quite a few beers on tap, and they often host various “festivals” to highlight a particular class of beers. Their Belgian Beer Festival is probably the most famous, but starting on Saturday, they will be hosting their 8th annual Barleywine High Alcohol Beers & Imperial Stouts Festival. I picked up a flier for it last night. (Click on the image to see an enlarged version. You can also view the PDF.)

I started off the evening with a glass of the Craftsman Aurora Borealis from the tap. This one was a strong, barleywine-type beer with a particularly strong floral, hoppy nose. It had a dark amber body with a half-finger’s width of off-white head that lasted well after I had finished half of the glass. It was very sweet and packed a noticeable punch to go along with its double digit alcohol by volume. If you like the barleywine style or just high alcohol beers in general, you should try the Aurora Borealis. If not, you likely won’t find anything here to change your opinion. Your stomach won’t quickly forget you drank this beer.

Now it was time for beer number two. Before I tell you what I ordered, I must say that I really like the Guinness Draught. I buy it to drink at home fairly regularly. I like stouts in general. But I had never had either of the other two “classic” dry Irish stouts: Murphy’s or Beamish. I saw that Luckys had the Murphy’s on tap, and with Greg’s recommendation I decided to give it a shot. Greg ordered the Stone Smoked Porter.

We went back to our table, and my first taste of Murphy’s told me exactly what I had hoped: I loved it. It’s a lot like Guinness in that it’s true to the dry Irish stout style, but the Murphy’s finish was smoother and less bitter than that of Guinness. It was creamier, I guess I would say. I really like it. I prefer it slightly to Guinness.

Greg tried the Stone Smoked Porter and seemed to enjoy it. He let me try it, and within seconds I fell in love. I love stouts and porters. I’ll drink and enjoy other styles of beer too, but the only beers I’ve really fallen in love with are stouts and porters. Something about that roasted barley just does it for me.

But the Stone Smoked Porter…it’s in a class of its own. It’s darker than most porters, with pretty much an opaque black body. It had a finger’s width or so of tan head. The aroma was of a delicious malt, and as the beer entered the mouth, it was smooth and creamy. The carbonation engaged the tongue and gave a little bit of a kick at the swallow, not unlike the feeling of swallowing a soda (only in terms of texture, not in terms of syrupy sweetness). The taste was smoky, with just a little bit of dark chocolate and coffee. And I mean “just a little bit”.

The Stone Smoked Porter struck me as a simple beer in the best sense of the word. It didn’t try to overwhelm me with competing flavors or aromas. There was one unifying theme to the beer, but it evolved nicely from the nose to the tip of the tongue to the swallow. This was one of the best beers I have ever had, and at this point I would rate it a very competitive number two on my all time favorite beer list (following Young’s Double Chocolate Stout).

What else can I say about the Stone Smoked Porter? Best. Porter. Ever. It looks like the reviewers over at Beer Advocate and My Life is Beer more or less agree.