When I started drinking craft beers on a regular basis for our show Shipwreck Porter was my first ever “WOW” beer. In fact their owner Tim Suprise was the first major brewery owner I had ever met back in 06.  This is the 2007 vintage that was aged when I picked it up at Fat Heads. Rumors of Arcadia’s demise in the Pittsburgh area has been great exaggerated.

Arcadia Brewing Shipwreck Porter
brewery: Arcadia Brewing Company – arcadiaales.com
style: Baltic Porter
abv: 12%
serving size: 22oz
glass used: Sam Adams Perfect Beer glass
awards: 2007 Winner, 1st Place, Chicago Beer Society
price: $10

Overview
Nothing like a 10-year-old Bourbon to add dimension to a beer!  This Baltic-style Porter has a robust, roasted malt emphasis that is nicely balanced by a slightly herbal hop bitterness.  Aged for 6 months in 10-year-old Kentucky Bourbon barrels, Shipwreck Porter is a tasty and tasteful combination of  brilliant flavors.  Bourbon adds notes of earth, vanilla, brown sugar and spice, while the barrels contribute mild, oaky tones.  Cocoa and coffee notes co-mingle with toasty, malty flavors and a lingering alcohol warmth.

This is a BIG beer.  Lots of alcohol and lots of flavor mean this brew can cellar for years.  Our Shipwreck Porter is delicious on its own or with a nice cigar, but also brilliant with many foods or as a digestif.

Recommended Foods:  Earthy Cheese such as Camembert, BBQ, Chocolate-Bourbon Cake

What I think
Aging a beer in my house is a rare thing and I only started recently. Mostly due to the fact beer never lasts that long in my house but with Teaspoon my beverage time is next to none. When I stopped at Fat Head’s and found a bottle of 07 I knew I was in for a treat.

My main concern was that the already present bourbon would be strong enough to take lead paint off my 1970′s Matchbox cars and probably run a truck. I’m glad to report I was wrong. In fact it mellowed enough over the 18 months that I was taken to a new land of craft beer bliss.  The head still poured a caramel tone and hung around for a few minutes. The aroma was bourbon, oak and malty. Shipwreck carried a medium body and finished with a malty bourbon slide. Unfortunately Fat Heads had the bottles in the cooler only so I’m hesitant to pick one up and store it in the beer cellar. Anyone have advice on this?

Spoon’s rating: A

This beer is going to confuse the hell out of people who think that all beers are yellow and fizzy because the word “Ale” is at the end. You know that Genny is what comes to mind.  Time for an education.

Stoudts Winter Ale
brewery: Stoudts – www.stoudtsbeer.com
beer website: Winter Ale
style: American Porter
abv: 5.5%
serving size: 12oz
glass used: plastic
price: $2.50

Overview
The website doesn’t have jack about this. Boo on brewery websites who have next to nothing about their beers. I threw out the bottle thinking I could get it off the website. After some digging around on the interwebz I found “ This medium to full bodied ale is a deep brown color with notes of chocolate and nut flavors. It has a subtle hop bitterness and chocolaty aroma. This is the perfect holiday beer for the season.”

What I think
The only thing that could have possibly saved this beer would be to have drank it from the Sam Adams ultimate beer glass which seems to save the soul of many beers. No need for how the head was or it’s body because come on, it was a plastic cup. I really need to get my own glass at 3 Sons for moments like this.

I had very little nose on this but did eventually get a slight aroma of coffee and sweetness of some malt. I’m not a coffee drinker so I can’t tell you any type of coffee besides black greasy spoon diner coffee. The initial taste was minimal on coffee and a bit chocolate but after that went downhill dull faster than an OJ trial. It felt flat on the palate and was making for a rough time to finish but alas I’m a trooper for you. I’ve had dry porters before and this wasn’t it. Overall a bad experience but not worthy of a “D”. I’ll need to revisit sometime soon because something just wasn’t right.

Spoon’s rating: C-