Stone Smoked Porter

I didn’t want Tim to have all of the fun with the new reviews.  So here is one from me.  Check it out that is me at the Riverview Cafe with a glass of Stone’s Smoked Porter.  To get the full effect of how much I enjoyed this beer today let me tell you the whole story from the beginning.

Living in Vermont there are not many days that we even think about turning on the AC.  However this day in late July was one of those exceptions.  Rather than sit inside on this unusually hot and humid day, Tim and I grabbed our giant tubes, drove out to the West Dummerston Covered Bridge and floated down the West River for about 4 hours.  (Taking advantage of having left our corporate lives behind and moved to Vermont to become Innkeepers.)  Long story short, we needed to walk downtown to pick up our car, but could not resist having a pint on the rooftop deck at the Riverview Cafe first.

Well enough about the day and the great tan I got :P and on to more important things, like the beer.  I am quickly drawn to the Stone tap handle, the black stone with bold white letters is very easy to identify and I am certain that what pours from the tap will be good.  Actually,  Stone is my favorite all around brewery.  If I was stuck on a deserted island and could choose only one brewery to be there with me it would probably be Stone.

Now rating with Tim’s choice of categories should be interesting.  So here goes.  This beer is sexy hot, like an exotic Argentinian woman with her long wavy black hair and legs that go on forever.  I am mostly turned on by the fact that it is not over the top smoky, I don’t dig a beer that is too crazy smoky.  Despite the dark roasted malts, it is pleasantly smooth and a bit lighter than a stout.  There is no long lingering after taste like you get from a lot of dark beers.  With the relatively low alcohol level, even on this hot summer day I could easily drink more than one of these beers, but I didn’t get to as we still had to walk to the car…