Day 216 / August 4, 2011
Sweetwater
Tavern /
Sterling, VA
A
|
NG
|
P
|
G
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VG
|
O
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Holy Smoke!
If you’ve kept up with the blog, you’ll know that my week-long stand at Sweetwater Tavern was in jeopardy, because they only had 4 beers on tap that I had not previously had. As a backup, I purchased a growler of Chipotle Porter at the Sterling Sweetwater, hoping maybe they would let me bring it in. But, ABC rules being what they are, they either wouldn’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t let me bring the growler in. So it went from the car to the fridge for about a week.
If you’ve kept up with the blog, you’ll know that my week-long stand at Sweetwater Tavern was in jeopardy, because they only had 4 beers on tap that I had not previously had. As a backup, I purchased a growler of Chipotle Porter at the Sterling Sweetwater, hoping maybe they would let me bring it in. But, ABC rules being what they are, they either wouldn’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t let me bring the growler in. So it went from the car to the fridge for about a week.
I called HHH over last Thursday, and we cracked the seal on this bad
boy. A chipotle is a smoke-dried, ripe,
red jalapeno pepper. I’m not sure how
much chipotle they put in here, but you can definitely taste it! The beer itself is a relatively mild porter,
not too thick, dark or strong. It’s brewed
with some chocolate malt too.
You’ll first smell the pepper when you open the growler and pour
yourself a glass. As you take your first sip, you’ll notice just a hint of the
smoky pepper taste. But then you’ll feel
a mild pepper burn as the beer runs down your throat – which is not a bad
thing.
All in all, I think it’s an interesting beer, with some complex
flavors. If you find it on tap, I
recommend getting one as your first beer, and then maybe switching to something
else.
I would give the Chipotle Porter a VG on the Jeff scale. The base beer (without the chipotles) is a very good, sessionable ale. It is has firm malt body nicely balanced with just enough hops so you know they are there, however the malt is at the fore. The smoked malt and chipotles are an interesting twist, and although the slight burn going down the throat is a bit unusual at first, one gets used to it. I drank about half this growler, and enjoyed it more as the ale warmed a bit allowing more flavors to come out. After leaving Jeff's with the half full growler since he needed to pack for an early flight the next morning, I shared it with my daughter Hannah and her friend Troy. Hannah was full from dinner so did not have much but Troy said he enjoyed it quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteCheers
HHH