100 Beers, 100 Days: Day #13

Pennichuck Backdraft Chocolate Porter

Two weeks into this experiment, and I’m right back where I started: a chocolate beer. This time, it’s from the relatively new and relatively small Pennichuck Brewing Company in Milford, NH. You’ve probably never even heard of Milford, NH. I guess it’s not really an internationally known brewing town. Perhaps future editions of my Designing Great Beers will talk about how to treat your water to match Milford, NH.

I got this bottle at my favorite local bar, Stella Blu, after consuming a glass of sangria and some sort of rye & bitters concoction, so my memory may be a bit off. The bottle has a nice flame design and fireman sillouette on the label, much nicer than some of the rather cheesy labels I’ve seen from this brewery. Luckily it’s what’s inside the bottle that counts and this was to be my first beer from Pennichuck.

It poured very dark with a nice thick head. The smell and flavor were heavy on roasted malts and coffee, and a little lighter on the chocolate side. This is clearly a chocolate-as-malt, not chocolate-as-chocolate beer. I can deal with that this time. There’s enough other stuff going on in the beer besides the mega assault of roastedness to keep me interested. Hops were not really noticeable either as an aroma or as bitterness. Thank you for not making this an Imperial Chocolate Porter.

I’d tend to call this a robust porter since it’s a much thicker, heavier, roastier beer than porters typically are. That’s fine with me, though, because I enjoy making robust porters. However it is a little hard to distinguish this beer from a well-made chocolate stout. I don’t think I’d be able to do it in a blind taste test. I’d definitely drink one of these beers again and I think I’ll track down another beer from this brewery in the future too. For those of you keeping track at home, this is my favorite chocolate beer from the project so far.