The Colonels Porter
Cambridge Brewing Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Porter - Baltic Special Out of Production|
Score
7.29
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Release Date: 11 August, 2005
Colonel Albert Bacon Blanton (1881-1959) began working at the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Franklin County, Kentucky, when he was sixteen. Five years later, he was President of the whiskey plant. For over fifty-five years, Col. Blanton dedicated himself to the distillery, and as a true bourbon aristocrat, developed world-class straight Kentucky bourbons (believing blends to be inferior) and occasionally produced and bottled a single-barrel bourbon. In 1984 the Buffalo Trace Distillery released Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon in his honor, the first in the world to be commercially released. Why is this at all important to a small craft brewery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, far from the hills and farms of old Kentucky? ‘Cuz we’ve got some of their barrels. The Colonel’s Porter, named in honor of the innovator, aristocrat, and visionary, is an interesting blend of Porter styles. Brewed stronger and further attenuated than our house porter (in the tradition of Northern and eastern European porters), with accents of caramel, cherries, figs, and roast malt, it has aged for over six months in fresh, second-use (the first being the bourbon) American oak barrels from the Buffalo Trace Distillery. While the contribution of whiskey flavors is slight, noticeable in a perfumed note of wildflowers and hot alcohol, the wood itself has contributed an extraordinary smoothness, with notes of vanilla and charred oak rounding out the beer’s myriad complexities. A mere two hundred gallons of The Colonel’s Porter resides now in our serving tank. How long it will last is anyone’s guess. We suggest, though, that you get around to trying it sooner rather than later. And as you raise you glass, take a moment to savor the commingling of style, flavor, aroma, and history in your glass.
OG:1.064 FG:1.012 ABV:7.2%
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
A dark porter with a thin lacing dark brown head. In aroma, superb dark acid cherries, Brett/horseblanket, ground cherries, and vinegar acids. In mouth, a surprisingly smooth yet intense porter with ground cherries, lactic acid, Brett, very funky and complex. On tap at brewpub, July 1 2010.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Draught at the brewpub as The Colonel Barrel-Aged Wild Porter. Black. Huge bretty, aged aroma like a Rodenbach. Caramel and cherry. Sweet-sour-burnt flavor with a big, bretty, sour edge and slight coffee roasting. Some sweet fruit as well, with a hugely bitterfinish. Wacky--interesting, original, and fun.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
On draught at Redbones, 8/21/2005. Having had multiple pints of this baby, I can attest to the nice work on the barrel-aging. Never got old, and actually, the more I drank, the more I enjoyed the bourbon flavor. Pours a deep, milk-chocolate to dark-roast coffee brown, with some very faint ruby highlights and a small, but well-retained medium-tan head, mostly hazy. Aroma of wood chips, bourbon, molasses, touches of faint smoke and bits of dry blackberry or currant skins. A touch of cocoa powder and maybe some anise as well. Flavor is bourbony, but the sweet, sticky caramel holds up to it well, with touches of molasses/maple and dry, moderately bitter roast. Finishes with some raisins and coffee, real beany, grainy and thick. A delicious, savory beer, with the bourbony coconut and mild alcohol coming back to stick with you on the finish. Way to go Will, this is a barrel-aged beer that can stand up to the best in the country/world. Low to moderate carbonation and a medium body, with a chewy, sticky mouthfeel. I want to head over to CBC right now just thinking about it.