Alaskan Brewing Co. - Smoked Porter (2012)

It's that time of the week again! Yep, it's time to sit back, crack open a couple of beers, and kiss the shitty part of the week goodbye. Wednesday night and it's time for another beer review.

As promised over on Twitter (@tasteslikebeer), tonight we're reviewing Alaskan Brewing Co - Smoked Porter. This is the 2012 "vintage" and conveniently has the bottle on date right there on the label. In this case, Smoked Porter was bottled on 09/18/12 at 19:08. Wow, even the specific time! Oh, and this comes in at 6.5% abv.

Popped the cap and immediately get a nice whiff of smoke. Either that, or I've just lit something on fire... nope, it's just the beer.

This beer pours out pitch black. No light shining through. I'm literally holding this up to a light and I can't see through it. There is an off white head, bordering on khaki in color. Definitely not white, darker than eggshell, but certainly not mocha or brown. The head is about 2 fingers and somewhat fluffy. It sticks around for quite some time and leaves a very sticky lacing on the side of the glass. It looks awesome!

Taking a proper smell of this beer and it's just a really solid smoke. This beer smells like an incredible campfire that's just hitting it's full roar. Very woody and earthy. I'm really digging the smell. Makes me want to bust out some graham crackers and marshmallows. It's definitely the best smoked beer I've ever smelled. Granted, I haven't smelled a ton of them, but this takes the top spot.

Ok, enough rambling. Time to get into this Porter.

Holy. Shit.

This tastes just like it smells. Right away this beer has a subtle sweetness. It's not intense, maybe a little bit of a vanilla character. Middle of the mouth this beer explodes and leaves behind a ton of smoke. It's like I took the campfire and ate it. All of it. There's a slight hop bitterness coming in behind the smoke. A ton of earthiness. The smoke just lingers in the middle of the mouth. Back of the throat this beer finishes real smooth. The smoke is left behind for a nice sweet note. Vanilla, maybe even a caramel note coming through as well with a subtle maple character as well. A bit of an espresso character is showing up behind that.

Oh, mouth feel on this is perfect. Absolutely perfect in my opinion.

Overall, this is one of the best porters I've ever had. Definitely the top smoked beer I've been able to get my hands on. I regret not buying Alaskan Smoked Porter in previous years. I've seen it but never picked it up. That changes now. Get this beer if you can. Get a couple, drink one now, drink one later. Set me back about $9 but was totally worth it.


Rating: A

Wife said it tastes like I soaked wood chips in beer and this is the end result. In other words, she's not a fan.