Big Shoulders Porter

Product Reviewed: Big Shoulders Porter
Brewed by: Chicago Brewing Company
Review by: David Brockington
Original Posted to Usenet: May 31, 1994

Initial Impressions:

This beer was purchased in bottle-form from a supermarker in Portland, Oregon. It was reviewed within a week of purchase. While it is quite possible that this beer, like others I have reviewed in the past, was not designed with travel in mind, the brewer must be aware that their beer is being sold as far afield as Oregon, and as such, is somewhat responsible (but not entirely) for their product. (i.e. if they know it doesn't travel well, like WG, they have no business exporting it to a different region of the country, and expecting people to pay money for it.) That unduly harsh disclaimer aside, I'll get on with the tasting. :)

The beer poured a nice glass, with a deep-brown but not opaque color capped by a thick, tan head. The head had strong retention, and left a residue of beautiful lacework down the glass.

Nose:

A strong roasty scent dominates the nose, with hints of some unidentifiable malodorous scent clinging in the background. (Although neither I nor my roommate, Marvin Crippen, we able to identify the scent in question, we are by no means experts. However, we are expert enough to know that the scent in question doesn't belong in beer.) I apologize up front for the lame description -- it just wasn't right. However, it wasn't terribly distracting from the overall olfactory experience.

Flavor:

Quite porter-like. The dark grains dominate the experience, with chocolate-malt beginning, then fading into possibly patent, and culminating in a combination of hop bitterness (in the background) and roasted barley bite (in the foreground). There was a discernible earthy, dirt-like aftertaste, possibly from an overreliance on the roasted barley? This effect was not desirable, and detracted from the overall experience.

Final Analysis:

Not a bad porter, with a couple of minor flaws, but it seemed that there was an overreliance on roasted barley as opposed to the chocolate and patent malts. In my personal opinion, roasted barley should be the reserve of Stouts, and Porters ought to rely more upon the patent and chocolate malts. The roast in this beer dominated the other potential flavors. In a stout, I would appreciate that to some extent, but in a Porter, I expect a more balanced attack. However, pick up a bottle and judge for yourself -- if I were to be of the view that a heavily roasty profile is appropriate in a porter, I would have added a half star to my score.

** (based on 5)

Next Up:

Dominion Lager
Dominion Stout
Dominion Millennium

David Brockington, Seattle, USA
bronyaur@u.washington.edu