Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter: Inaugural Beer Review

OK, it's time to really get the party started here.  For weeks, I've been contemplating what exact form this blog would take.  Well, you know what?  It's going to take whatever form it so pleases on any given day.  It may end up sort of random, but hey, I need to play to my strengths.  As I stated in my first actual post, this is supposed to be sort of an everyman's (everywoman's too, obviously) blog.  I love beer...I adore it.  I think it is one of the most incredible and varied drinks in the world.  I'm drawn to a huge range of styles.  I go to beer fests centered around weird beers.  I talk beer with my friends.  I'm a certified beer geek.  In reality though, I don't always quite fit the beer geek mold that produces a lot of the people at, for example, the beer fests.  I don't have one of those ultra-refined palates that can pick out these ultra subtle flavors in a drink.  In fact, I wonder if a lot of the people out there are just making it up.  But, that's neither here nor there.  I don't like using the terms nose and mouth-feel.  My goal is to describe the beers in a way that anyone can understand.  I want you to be able to give it a very quick read and walk away thinking either yes, I want to try it or no, that one's not for me.

Here we go...

Tonight I cracked open a 22oz. FireStone Walker's Reserve Porter that I purchased at The Drinkery in Londonderry, NH.  If you're not readily familiar with porters, they were first brewed in England in the early to mid 1700's.  At their most basic, they're a more robust version of a brown ale and not as big and strong as a stout.  Porters are, in fact, the precursors to stouts.  Stouts were first called stout porters due to being a stronger variant of a normal, run of the mill porter.  They eventually dropped the porter part and just called them stouts.  I won't describe them much more than I have, because, in my experience, porters can be chocolatey, smokey, hoppy, coffee-ey and more.

So, how does Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter fit into the world of porters?  Quite well, I would say.  It's a nice deep brown color with maybe some tinges of red at the edges of the glass.  Sitting on top is a huge, fluffy, tan head that sticks around for a surprisingly long time.  The smell is just as I think a porter should smell.  Yes, to some of you that makes no sense.  If you like porters though, it should make some sense.  This has a nice, balanced roasty smell with a bit of coffee and chocolate.  How about the taste?  Well, read my description of the smell and change it to taste.  This really is an incredibly drinkable porter.  It's only 5.8% a.b.v., so it's not going to knock your socks off.  It has a nice balanced maltiness/roastiness/coffeeness (hey, it's my blog...I can make up words if I want to).

The last part of the taste I have yet to mention is the hoppiness.  For you beer beginners, hops are a flower that is used in the brewing of beer.  Depending on the variety, it can contribute any number of different flavors and/or bitterness/bite.  For full disclosure, I will state that I am a hop-head.  I like very strong, very bitter beers.  I'll always try to describe the hops somewhat objectively though.  This porter, like the rest of the tastes, has a very balanced hoppiness.  There is enough there to give you a little bitterness to fight back against the sweetness of the malts, but it's not intrusive in the least.

Well, in case you can't tell, my overall view on FireStone Walker's Reserve Porter is quite positive.  When it comes to porters, you certainly won't go wrong with this one.  With this being my first FireStone beer, I will definitely go off in search of others.  They seem to know what they're doing.

Do I need to give it a grade?  I know some people want to see cold, hard numbers and figures.  Fine.  I've give this a solid A-.  I've only had a couple porters that I enjoyed more than this one.

Till next time...cheers!