Hey guys, I realized today that I had three different types of porters in my fridge and I figured why not pit them against each other in a porter-centric review? Each porter is unique and stands alone from it’s respective brew-style mate. With that being said it was hard for me to pick a favorite, as each of these three breweries happen to be favorites of mine. However in order to satiate your undeniable reader’s pang I will choose a favorite, for you and only you.

1. Smuttynose Robust Porter

First up is Smuttynose’s rendition of the porter style, this beer is pitch black, with a thin tan head when poured into a pint glass. The aroma is that of freshly roasted coffee beans, which matches the flavors of french roast and dark chocolate nicely. There are enough hops added to this beer to be noticeable and also to balance out the sweetness of the dark malts. There is a unique sharp bite to the beer on the front end of your palate that fades into nice sweetness from the malty cocoa flavors. It has a full body with high carbonation which makes it almost refreshing to drink. All in all for 6.3 percent alcohol this is a mighty enjoyable porter.

overall rating 4.5 robust coffee beans out of 5

2. Bell’s Porter

Next is the Bell’s Porter, a lighter porter in terms of alcohol then the other two but not in terms of flavor. This beer is also very dark with a nice dark white head when poured into a pint glass. There are some earthy aromas that come off from the glass, mixed with chocolate notes. The flavors are very dark roasty malts, mixed with very dark chocolate to a nice hoppy dry finish. In terms of flavor this porter is more similar to a standard porter which means the flavor comes from the dark malts more than the hops or added flavors. If there were a session-able porter out of the three this would be it at 5.6 percent alcohol rating. Nice medium body and carbonation. A very good beer.

4.2 porter sessions out of 5

3. Founder’s Porter

Last and the opposite of least is Founder’s Porter. Man this beer is good. I mean REAAALLY GOOD. I’m a big fan of dark beers like stouts and porters to begin with, in fact i usually prefer them to other brew styles, however this beer takes the porter to a whole different plane of existence. If you took what was good about all the porters,stouts and milds you ever imbibed, put it into an unbreakable brew tank and sent it through a black hole, what emerged from the other side would be pretty similar to this porter. The aromas are sensual, dark roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, earthy and woodsy. The taste is right there with some nuttiness up front, smooth dark as night malts and finishing chocolate and bitterness with some dryness at the end. This beer just really good, Did I say that already? At 6.5 percent alcohol the body of this beer which is creamy yet not too thick like a stout hides the dryness well.

Overall this beer gets 4.9 black-holes out of 5

Thanks for reading make sure to check out these porters and other beers at the brewery websites listed below, cheers!

http://foundersbrewing.com/our-beer/

https://smuttynose.com/

http://bellsbeer.com/