Cisco - Moor Porter

Cheers everybody and thanks for reading!  Today's brew is another one from my anonymous East Coast friend.  Not that this person supplies all my brews by any means, but I'm finally digging into that stash and I am loving every minute of it.  I'm especially grateful to receive this brew since it's available almost exclusively on the East Coast (MA, CT, RI, VT, NH, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, D.C., SC, FL, & GA)!  Today's brew is the Moor Porter from Cisco Brewing in Nantucket, Mass.  No limericks please.   OK, maybe 1 or 2 about craft beer.  I'll allow that if you feel so inspired.  Poetry comes later, though... let's pour!

Aroma 10/12

The aroma on this gets better and better every time I sniff it.  It began with dark roasts that also implied a little smoke with them.  Lots of black malts involved here, friends.  A lesser cocoa is present as is the bittersweet calling card of molasses.  As this beer warms it becomes wonderfully rich and brings out a warming chocolate, a well-blended black licorice, and plenty of the molasses.  Complex and delicious, but stops short of being a powerhouse.  Very nice.  The chocolate and cocoa seem to grow stronger all the time!

Appearance 3/3

This pours like a porter should and looks like it means business.  The glass is all but completely opaque with black goodness and shows a chestnut brown toward the top if held to light.  The head is tan and not large, but it lasts an adequate amount of time and covers the surface of the beer.

Flavor 16/20

For how dark this beer is, it starts out quite lightly.  It's almost a clean beginning with a light general sweetness and then fades gradually into a darker, more flavorful backbone.  Full disclosure: even the backbone isn't that dark.  This doesn't make it bad, but it is a surprise considering the aroma and appearance.  Fading in from the initial flavors are the smoke from the aroma and a light char.  The licorice is in the background, but grows a bit as the beer is held in the mouth.  This beer does have an interesting light sour that punches through all the dark flavors the way a ray of light shines through clouds.  Surely, the beam of citrus is diminished in comparison to its surroundings, just as the light is by the clouds, however its presence is just as noticeable.  The chocolate shows its sweet side toward the end and when it mixes with the darkly roasted black malts, gives the illusion of a coffee-ish flavor.  The finish brings to light a flavor that was previously so well blended, it was nearly undetectable.  A round earthiness comes forward in the finish and when it does so, it makes it that much easier to find in other stages of the beer.  It also enjoys a brief wash of bitter, but settles back down with the flavors of the black malts.  Funny, even the lingering aftertaste has that same illusion of coffee thanks to the roasted/bitter combination.

Mouthfeel 4/5

This is not the worlds most robust porter, but that is exactly where its strength lies.  This porter is light bodied and easy drinkin'.  It is assisted by a higher than normal level of carbonation thanks to its bottle conditioning, and the aforementioned overarching light sour flavor.  When this beer is held in the mouth the carbonation dies rather quickly, transitioning it from a light refresher to a smooth porter.  The fact that the chocolate flavors show up about the same time as the smoothness is about as nice a touch as they come.

Overall Impression 8/10

There's lots of dark goodness in this brew, but not at the expense of becoming heavy or a burden to drink.  The aroma was phenomenal, but lead to a lighter taste than anticipated.  This is a highly drinkable, accessable beer that would lend itself extremely well to introducing those that feel they are ready to darker beer.  It's lighter but not at the expense of good flavor.

Total 41/50

Another "better-than-average" beer that has some really nice things going for it.  Very drinkable, wonderful and complex aroma, and an interesting mouthfeel.  However, the flavors seem to be fighting for space instead of complementing one another or flowing one into the next.  This is especially odd since all the right ingredients seem to be utilized.  As I mentioned earlier, this brew is not a stretch to consume on a hot summer day or one after another, even at 5.5% ABV.  However, I would be more prone to use this brew to convert people to the "dark side" of beer.  If they're ready, that is.  If they're not ready, then dark beers are still going to taste like crap to them no matter how light a version of the style it may be.  But those that are ready, need not resort to flavorless American Guiness Draught (I understand that foreign versions are better, I just have yet to verify this for myself) or kill themselves on some super delicious, thick, monstrosity of a stout.  This beer exists solely to introduce people to dark beers or to be a drinkable version of the style .  It's local.  It's tasty.  It's an introduction to darker beer.  Well, as long as you're in their distribution states.

Dogfish Head - Squall

It's definitely time for another craft beer from Dogfish Head.  In fact, my guilty conscience will no longer let me rest until I open and finish this IPA that has been in my presence for far too long.  At least, that's what I tell my wife.  Now, did I intentionally review two beers back to back that involve large sailing vessels on the label?  No.  Is it some sign of spring?  No.  Is it a sign that I should buy a boat myself?  Again, that's what I tell my wife.  That said, the only place I'd rather be drinking this is on a boat.  DFH needs no introduction.  Let's pour!

Aroma 11/12
This bottle opened with a violent hiss and then assuaged any startled souls with a relaxing floral  and pine combination.  The pine doesn't last long, but the floral is soon joined and usurped by strong honey and lemon zest aromas.  A nice bready malt balances the lot before a classic IPA smell is achieved by the reemergence of the piney hop note with a new caramel tone.  You'll definitely want to let the head die down on this one to receive the full experience.  This is a classic smell that doesn't have any of the strong alcohol warmth that can accompany some of DFH's bigger brews.  Squall rings in at 9% ABV.

Appearance 2/3
The head is perfectly foamy on this and was moderate in my 2-3 oz pour for smelling.  Pouring the rest of the glass yielded a monster head that will have me exercising caution in my pours for the remainder of the bottle.  I guess I should have known given the *hiss* that greeted me upon prying off the bottlecap.  In its defense, said head does leave fantastic lacing down the sides of the glass.  It is lightly hazy, but still relatively clear for an unfiltered beer, though this has been sitting a while and I assume most of the sediment has settled on the bottom of the bottle.  If the bottle weren't black, I could confirm such things.  The color is an array of golds and other tiger's eye shades and clearly shows a column of carbonation rising from the bottom.

Flavor 19/20
The first impression is a fabulous one!  Rich, smooth caramel rolls over the tongue and splashes to a halt with a light alcohol warmth and bitter.  Holding this in the mouth, the caramel can become sugary at times and mixes insanely well with the brighter honey, faint hop citrus, flakes of pepper, and a notable alcohol burn (the alcohol especially comes forward as the beer warms).  No real different waves of flavor to speak of, simply a cohesive unit of flavors doing their thing.  The finish is a dash of pepper (exacerbated by the prickly alcohol), resin, and that lemon zest that keeps hanging around in the background.  Oddly enough, all these flavors then make a hasty exit for a curiously clean finish!  It's very unusual, but another reminder of all the tremendous things that beer can do.  I really liked it.  The aftertaste continues that cleanliness, but does allow a light bitter to linger along with a very dry mouth.

Side note:  Slurp up some the foam (you WILL have the chance)!  It's all the beer's sweetness if a light, foamy package.

Mouthfeel 5/5
There is so much to love about the mouthfeel in this beer!  The carbonation is lively, as expected in a bottle conditioned ale, and is almost prickly.  Normally, this is something I rather shun in a beer, but in this case the slight prick of the carbonation actually goes well with the peppery hops and the alcohol warmth.  It all mingles together on the tongue for a rather complimentary, if not enjoyable, experience.  I've been waiting since the first sip to write about how SMOOTH this beer is.  Yes, even despite the carbonation.  The first sip was a wash of caramel in a body that is absolutely massive.  You can almost imagine caramel coating your tongue and it is fantastic.  The smoothness continues when the beer "foams" up in the mouth.  I place "foams" in quotes because instead of foaming, the beer instead takes on this wondrous creamy quality and it simply cannot be topped.  Best of all, with the carbonation being slightly more aggressive than usual, it prevents the creamy bodied beer from becoming syrupy or sluggish to drink.  I love that the warmth is part of the experience instead of being some strange offshoot that distracts from the beer as a whole.

The Dread Pirate Roberts takes no prisoners.

Overall Impression 10/10
The mouthfeel of this beer is superb, in case you couldn't tell by the unusually long paragraph used to describe it.  It's not often that a mouthfeel impresses me the most about a beer, but then again Dogfish Head has never been a typical brewer.  The flavors and aromas are few, but blend very well in a focused/teamwork sort of way.  The warmth definitely becomes stronger toward the end of the bottle and eventually begins to permeate every aspect of this craft brew.  It is not unwelcome, but definitely not something that was much of a factor when the beer was first opened.  (Note: Even when first opened, the bottle was at an appropriate drinking temperature.  I believe the alcohol warmth was evoked by the motion of tipping the bottle for subsequent pours and by leaving it open to "breathe" like wine.)


Total 47/50
This is one heck of a beer!  Coming from Dogfish Head, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but this IPA had sat for quite some time in my cellar so I was expecting a bit of a "deteriorated" performance.  Not so.  The aroma was top notch (even without the eventual addition of alcohol warmth), the flavor will go toe-to-toe with any IPA on the market, and the mouthfeel... well, I believe I've already beaten that dead horse.  Another top notch job from Sam and crew at DFH!  This is definitely giving me pause to think, "Why the heck am I saving all these Dogfish Head beers in my cellar?!"  I need to be drinking more of these.  Stat.