East End Smokestack Heritage Porter

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

A solid pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a fat-two-finger thick, lightly browned, dark tan colored head. The beer is a black color with a touch of rich brown to it and is almost opaque except for a few ruby flashes of color if held up directly to the light. The aroma is a satisfying mix of smoke, toasted malt and dry biscuit-like aromatics. Towards the finish is noticeable some light, roasted grain notes that add some coffee like aromatics. I can’t get over how rich and malt the nose is; the smoke is here and ample, but it melds with and even accentuates the rich, dark malt character that is naturally here in the nose. This has quite an enticing nose to it.

Somewhat light bodied up front, the beer picks up a touch of heft to it in the middle, but still remains a beer to be quaffed. The beer starts out a little colder than I might have liked (probably close to 40°F / 4.5°C), but it is still quite flavorful. Up front this has a rich chocolate note to it that quickly takes on a combination of rich smokiness and substantial toasted malt character. Rich browned malt character and the savory smoke character combine to make this quite a meal despite not being overly heavy. This does pick up some creamy texture as the beer warms up. Each sip finishes with the roasted malt character coming through; it adds a touch of burnt acidity that dries things out just a bit as well as some black coffee like roast character and a burnt graininess. There is a touch of fruitiness here, that is at times quite noticeable, but at others not so much; this reminds me a bit of burnt, sweet plums or burnt raisins. The roast character adds a bit of burnt-bitterness to this beer, but there is also a pine-like hop bitterness to this beer. As the beer warms up the texture just gets richer, more full-bodied, but still is quite drinkable.

This is a great beer to drink a liter bottle of. I can’t be happier with the two beers I have had from East End and to be honest I don’t see how they can get any better than this (someone prove me wrong). Just a great beer; full of flavor, yet quaffable enough to enjoy a couple glass over an evening. The smoke really is at a perfect level here, tons of rich malt character is still able to come through, while the smoke character just boosts the flavor and richness of this beer.