Sunday 22 June 2008

My beers (part 3)

From reports trickling in, it appears that my beers are finally hitting the shelves in the US. Great news.

If you've been one of the lucky ones to get hold of some, let me know what you think.

Of course, for the intended educational experience, you need to try both beers. Preferably Porter followed by SSS. Did I mention this before?

My choice of beers wasn't random. They are meant to answer the question: "What was the difference between London Porter and London Stout?" I should know the answer. I've drunk a couple of dozen bottles of each. But it's better if you discover it for yourself.

5 comments:

Joel said...

I had a few sips at the Falling Rock when the distributor was in town. A store 35 minutes away with a great selection of specialty beer also got some but it sold out before I could get any.

I loved the stout, and felt that the Porter was probably excellent but I really needed a pint to contemplate it properly. I was sharing $5 4oz samples (750's were $30USD.) I was expecting to get a bottle or two from store shelves for a proper tasting but that might not work out.

I did reckon it the most expensive session beer ever.

I would like to get some other porter examples and have a flight, assuming I can obtain another bottle of yours. Any suggestions for a flight of four porters?

Ron Pattinson said...

Joel, glad you liked them.

I'm a bit spoiled, because I can drink the Porter by the pint.

Fuller's Porter, er, Harvey's. I'm not really sure what else. It depends how much contrast you're after.

Mark Andersen said...

I had two bottles of the Porter and one of the Stout. I did drink the Porter first but the Stout came 3 days later and I really didn't think about them in comparison. Both we're outstanding.

One thing I did notice was the Stout had more of a dark brownish color than the Porter. I wasn't expecting that.

Bier-Mania!™ Cultural Beer Tours said...

Ron,
Respect!
We had the beers with you (thanks) in Forchheim (Franconia in Bavaria for those who aren't familiar) in April this year.
Awesome and thanks again.

Have a good one.
Andy

Anonymous said...

OK, I'm a bit late in getting to this. I had asked my local bottle shop if they had them and they said that they didn't. Luckily I asked a friend who shops there regularly and apparnetly knows their stock better than the employees. He pointed out that they had both. Now I have both. Actualy I have both open right now and am pouring half pints of both right now. This should give me enough chance to taste and compare them but also give me enough of each to drink a pint after.

I can see why you say you should taste both. I think that you'd miss a lot if you didn't pour both side by side and taste them together. There's a huge similarity it seems to the grain bills, because they seem to have similar malt profiles, but there's much more yeast character (fruit notes) in the stout, which you'd expectsince it's almost double the OG. I love the raisin/dried fruit note in the finish. The porter is fabulous. I think I actually prefer it at the moment, but maybe that's because it's the middle of the afternoon. I love the dry roast finish. It just makes me want to drink more of it.

Thankfully, the local shop seems to have a fair amount of it at this point so I'll be able to get both and try them together again.

We're having our annual snow storm here in Portland and I can't think of a better thing to do on a snwoy day. Beer research and education never tasted so good. Can't wait for the next batches. I hope you do one of the milds at some point.