McGuires Porter

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

It takes a lot of guts to call this beer a porter. It fails in the colour category being a reddish-brown pour rather than dark brown/black. The aroma is weak roast, some chocolate, and weak fruits. Flavour is a bit sweet for a porter as well. Very thin.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

This was a nice solid porter. I haven't had a porter in some time, so I have forgotten what I am looking for in terms of characteristics, but did enjoy the flavor. I preferred the raspberry beer, but this was my second favorite on the sampler. The food quality exceeds the beer quality, but hey, it wasnt bad!

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This beer had a really unique appearance. It was almost a dark garnet color. The flavor was a bitter chocolate almost like a 90% dark chocolate. It was overall a good beer if you were not going to eat lighter than the stout but heavy enough as a meal.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 10

Superb specimen of this type of beer. Chocolately, malty and incredibly drinkable. This is what porter should be. Nice head. Beauty in a glass. Another must-have when in the Destin area.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Aroma is burnt, oaky, and has some chocolate malt complexity as well as some slight bitterness. Appearance is a chestnut in color with a full head on top that is light-tan in color and diminishes. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied and smooth with nice malt balance and complexity. Flavor is clean and burnt with an oaky aftertaste and a finish that is coffee and chocolate. Overall, nice porter but not as good as Anchor porter; good brew though.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Poured the usual brownish color with a nice head and nearly continuous lacing. The aroma and flavor were fairly one-dimensional: coffee. Certainly was enjoyable, but lacking any complexity. Roasted flavors came out to play at mid-glass, but not to any level of stunning-ness. A good but on par beer with others. Mouthfeel was moderate. A nice beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

~ Initial Review, 05-03-2003:
Another style I would not normally associate with an Irish-style brewpub, since Porter, in it's truest sense, started out as an English hybrid drink of three different other ales (the Irish merely improved upon the style, and made a "stouter Porter", a.k.a. Stout). Regardless of it's historical significance, this particular beer really didn't do a whole lot for me, to be honest.

Beer menu write-up mentions chocolate malt and Willamette hops, with a ABV of 5.3% (near the top of the brewpub's alcohol range). But when I compared the Irish Red, Porter, and Irish Cream Stout in a taster set, I kept on getting the nagging impression that the Porter was little more than a blending of the Red and Stout. This isn't necessarily a negative thing, mind you - wine and whiskey are blended all the time, and beer is often no exception. But this still didn't make the Porter much of a beer, IMO.

Not a whole lot going on with this one. I like my Porters to be a bit grainy, and very sturdy. This wasn't a whole lot more than a bigger Irish Red, or a weaker Stout - again, alluding to a possible blend of the two.

Not horrible, but surely not an ale that is "full-bodied" with a "smooth, distinctive flavor" that it is claimed to be in the beer menu write-up.

~ Re-Review, 07-03-2004:
Since nothing else on-tap was really calling my name (when I stopped by for lunch this past week), I decided to give this another try.

Either the recipe has been tweaked quite a bit, or my initial review was all-out-to-lunch (perhaps both?)..., since this was actually pretty tasty, IMO. Definately more girth in the mouthfeel, as well as a more distinctive malt-bill -- almost roasty and stout-like. This went down quite well with my big-ass burger, and I'm glad I tried this out again.

Scores an composite average of the two samplings.
//TB