Kev's Beer of the Week Smoked Porter w/ Vanilla Bean

Kev's Beer of the Week ending 7/20/12

 

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean

Kev Rating: B+
Style: American Porter
ABV: 5.90%
IBUs: 53

Availability: Limited
Had: Most recently purchased at Gordon's in Watertown
Region: Escondido, CA

The Stone Smoked Porter has always been a delicious offering from Stone - good in the bottle, great on tap!  It's a nice bridge between a Porter with smokey notes and a German style Rauchbier.  If you have been on the fence about trying something with "smoked" in the name, don't be, it's worth it.  

That brings us to the two variations Stone recently released in the bottle - Smoked Porter with Chipotle and Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean.  Because I'm a week behind in my Beer's of the Week I'm doing a rapid fire - Chipotle for 7/13 week and Vanilla for 7/20 week.

Second up is the Smoked Porter made with Vanilla Bean.  I enjoyed this one a bit more than the Chipotle, but that shouldn't surprise too many of you.  It hit me more with the sweetness of the vanilla bean with some coconut which really enhanced the coffee and chocolate notes of the original porter. 

If you were slightly disappointed with the Maine Beer Co Mean Old Tom - less and less vanilla with each batch, then this one may remind you that you can put a bit more vanilla and not lose the original malt & chocolate notes you're looking for.  I even picked up another bottle to age for a bit to see if it matures.