Beer of the Weekend #113: Organic Porter
While researching tonight’s brew I discovered Draft Magazine. I haven’t looked around the site too much, but I did find this: The Beer Runner, a blog written by a beer drinking running fool. I’m thinking about running the Chicago marathon in October, so I’ll need to read up for training and drinking (training/drinking) tips.
The beer of the weekend is Organic Porter brewed by the Eel River Brewing Company of Scotia, California.
Instead of making my usual visit to BevMo!, I bought tonight’s beer at the new Sprouts Farmers Market in Huntington Beach. My bus passes the little shopping center it’s located in, and over the past few months I’ve watched the transformation that’s taken place from what the store used to be (a jeweler), to what it is now (an organic supermarket). A “coming soon” sign had advertised Sprouts, and I thought it would be a genuine farmers market for local growers (like the weird farms lining the Santa Ana River, and those who make the rounds of the OC farmers markets). But I should have known better; after all, this is SoCal, the capital of chain stores. From what I can tell, Sprouts is a wannabe Trader Joe’s or Mother’s Market. I checked it out on Wednesday when I needed some bread. I didn’t buy any because all they stocked was the same kind of expensive “health” shit you find in any supermarket — the stuff that is less bread then it is a pastry of synthesized corn. But I checked out their beer selection, which is the first thing I did; when I walked in I saw “Beer” in the back and was automatically drawn to it. The selection wasn’t big, but it wasn’t bad, and there was a full offering of Eel River brews. The porter caught my eye, so I decided to make it this week’s BotW.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. No freshness date.
Appearance: A straight pour produced two and a half fingers of a foamy, light tan head. The color is almost black, but is probably closer to ruby brown (like the brewer website says).
Smell: A little weak, but it has a nice scent of coffee that balances well with cocoa. There are also hints of vanilla and caramel.
Taste: The taste is surprisingly faint, like it’s reaching from the back, but it’s still there and tasty enough. Another reviewer said it tasted like cola, and I think it has that cola taste experience. It matches the smell: dominant coffee with hints of cocoa, and vanilla. There’s not much caramel, though.
Drinkability: It’s really watered down, but it’s still an OK beer. There are definitely better porters and stouts out there.
Fun facts about Organic Porter:
-Price: $8.99/sixer at Sprouts.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6.3 percent ABV according to the Eel River website, but BA and the bottle label lists it as 5.8 percent ABV. Why are the label and brewer website inconsistent?
-Food pairings: BA recommends barbeque, buttery cheeses (Brie, Gouda, Havarti, Swiss), chocolate dessert, and general meat.
-Gravity: 15º Plato.
-The bagger at Sprouts took a look at one of the Organic Porter bottles as I showed the cashier my ID. He asked me what the difference was between “regular and organic beer.” Luckily, I’m in the process of reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, so I told him what was probably the difference: the brewer just uses ingredients that weren’t treated with petroleum based pesticides and fertilizers. I was partly right, as the organic certification requires a little more, which is outlined on the Eel River website.
-Eel River is the first certified organic brewery in the US.
-I like this little blurb from the Eel River main page:
No doubt.
-Eel River was originally brewed in Fortuna at the former site of the Clay Redwood lumber mill (I fucking hate anyone who would cut down redwoods), but moved to Scotia in 2007 and started brewing in another abandoned lumber mill (which also probably cut redwoods — fuckers). Apparently, all the power used to brew beer is generated from left over chips, bark, and lumber scraps from the mill. “Even your lawn clippings if you bring them in are being recycled to help produce the power in Scotia.” My question is how are they recycling that material? Are they burning it?
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
The beer of the weekend is Organic Porter brewed by the Eel River Brewing Company of Scotia, California.
Instead of making my usual visit to BevMo!, I bought tonight’s beer at the new Sprouts Farmers Market in Huntington Beach. My bus passes the little shopping center it’s located in, and over the past few months I’ve watched the transformation that’s taken place from what the store used to be (a jeweler), to what it is now (an organic supermarket). A “coming soon” sign had advertised Sprouts, and I thought it would be a genuine farmers market for local growers (like the weird farms lining the Santa Ana River, and those who make the rounds of the OC farmers markets). But I should have known better; after all, this is SoCal, the capital of chain stores. From what I can tell, Sprouts is a wannabe Trader Joe’s or Mother’s Market. I checked it out on Wednesday when I needed some bread. I didn’t buy any because all they stocked was the same kind of expensive “health” shit you find in any supermarket — the stuff that is less bread then it is a pastry of synthesized corn. But I checked out their beer selection, which is the first thing I did; when I walked in I saw “Beer” in the back and was automatically drawn to it. The selection wasn’t big, but it wasn’t bad, and there was a full offering of Eel River brews. The porter caught my eye, so I decided to make it this week’s BotW.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. No freshness date.
Appearance: A straight pour produced two and a half fingers of a foamy, light tan head. The color is almost black, but is probably closer to ruby brown (like the brewer website says).
Smell: A little weak, but it has a nice scent of coffee that balances well with cocoa. There are also hints of vanilla and caramel.
Taste: The taste is surprisingly faint, like it’s reaching from the back, but it’s still there and tasty enough. Another reviewer said it tasted like cola, and I think it has that cola taste experience. It matches the smell: dominant coffee with hints of cocoa, and vanilla. There’s not much caramel, though.
Drinkability: It’s really watered down, but it’s still an OK beer. There are definitely better porters and stouts out there.
Fun facts about Organic Porter:
-Price: $8.99/sixer at Sprouts.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 6.3 percent ABV according to the Eel River website, but BA and the bottle label lists it as 5.8 percent ABV. Why are the label and brewer website inconsistent?
-Food pairings: BA recommends barbeque, buttery cheeses (Brie, Gouda, Havarti, Swiss), chocolate dessert, and general meat.
-Gravity: 15º Plato.
-The bagger at Sprouts took a look at one of the Organic Porter bottles as I showed the cashier my ID. He asked me what the difference was between “regular and organic beer.” Luckily, I’m in the process of reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, so I told him what was probably the difference: the brewer just uses ingredients that weren’t treated with petroleum based pesticides and fertilizers. I was partly right, as the organic certification requires a little more, which is outlined on the Eel River website.
-Eel River is the first certified organic brewery in the US.
-I like this little blurb from the Eel River main page:
Beer is the number one selling alcoholic beverage in the world. Our philosophy is let the big guys fight the marketing war; meanwhile this microbrewery is going to go on making the best beer from the highest quality ingredients and we invite you to grab one of our beers and BE NATURAL - DRINK NAKED
No doubt.
-Eel River was originally brewed in Fortuna at the former site of the Clay Redwood lumber mill (I fucking hate anyone who would cut down redwoods), but moved to Scotia in 2007 and started brewing in another abandoned lumber mill (which also probably cut redwoods — fuckers). Apparently, all the power used to brew beer is generated from left over chips, bark, and lumber scraps from the mill. “Even your lawn clippings if you bring them in are being recycled to help produce the power in Scotia.” My question is how are they recycling that material? Are they burning it?
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
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