Stone 6th Anniversary Porter - Stone Brewing Co.

Murph

Arizona

4.88/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Pours black with just the barest hints of light around the edges witha thick brown head that slowly fades and leaves a nice lace. Very roasted on the nose with nice big chocolatey tones along with some light smokiness and light piney hops. Wow, this brew is absolutely loaded with flavor. Nice hoppy bitterness is mixed in lightly at the start before the roasted and smokey maltiness comes into the picture in a big way. The tangy hoppiness rears its head again before the brew finishes with a nice malty sweetness with strong chocolate flavors left lingering on my tongue. Smooth, creamy and absolutely excellent. I could drink this stuff from sunup to sundown and not get tired of it, although I would be rather drunk. An excellent brew, standard fare from Stone though. Highly recommended.

Serving type: bottle

12-16-2002 18:32:22 | More by Murph

DerKaiser

California

3.9/5  rDev -12.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

This is my first Stone brew and I'm beginning to see what all the hype is about. This porter is almost jet black with a nice mocha colored head with big bubbles.

The flavor is an overwhelming blend of unsweetened chocolate, lemon rind, burnt caramel, and espresso bean. This beer has a strong, bitter finish that leaves it a bit unbalanced for my taste and detracts somewhat from the drinkability. But it's an excellent interpretation of the style, nonetheless. The 8.01% abv is virtually unnoticable, except in your head and flush cheeks. Just a big, steamroller of a beer, all around. I'm anxious to try the other Stone brews.

Serving type: bottle

12-01-2002 19:14:20 | More by DerKaiser

Myk

Massachusetts

4.18/5  rDev -5.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

stone 6th anniversary porter 8.01% abv. for this big of a beer very little alcohol notes. this porter pours with a great thick consistant, little lacey, almost kacki(sp) head with a deep, deep, deep, brown color. the aroma is of chocolate, and slightly smoky malt. the taste has a surprising hop bitterness that is balanced well with the amazing chocolate, carmely malt, it tastes slightly burnt though, it is a full bodied beast with long lasting mouthfeel bitterness on the palete. little alcohol taste, but for i would think it would be a little more prevalent in this beer for the ABV. well worth drink. so sweet.

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2002 23:26:57 | More by Myk

jreitman

California

4.58/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

An absolutely superb beer that I was lucky enough to have on tap at the Taphouse in Bellevue. The first thing I noticed was that absolutely inviting appearance of the beer which was jet black with a nice thick dark brown head. Hoppy and roasted smells rose from the glass. Upon the first sip, I knew I was in for a treat. The beer is a very big porter... lots going on here with complexity out the wazzoo. Bitterness is very noticeable but not heavy enough to drown out the malts. Malt flavors range form caramel to chocolate and roasted coffee to a smoky feel. The brew just fill your mouth with flavors and I wanted to keep drinking more to discover all the other hidden flavors. This beer has so much going on it truly is amazing. Cheers out to Stone for another quality brew.

Serving type: on-tap

10-28-2002 19:48:54 | More by jreitman

mickeymac

California

4/5  rDev -9.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

It's just a shade off black with a thick tan head. The smell is roasted malt with a hint of chocolate and very noticeable traces of alcohol. The smoke flavor is barely detectable at first but becomes a bit more pronounced as it warms. Unfortunately, the alcohol flavor also becomes more noticeable and overwhelms the more subtle fruity and smoky flavors. 8% abv just seems a bit high for a beer like this. Stone's smoked porter is more balanced and enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

10-08-2002 21:19:05 | More by mickeymac

aracauna

Georgia

3.63/5  rDev -18.2%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Black but not opaque. Nice tan head laces nicely. This one isn't as smokey as their smoked porter (a good thing) but it is still noticeably smoky. Dark malts (predominately chocolate) are dominated by the citrus peel hops a bit. Not too overbalanced though.

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2002 00:17:20 | More by aracauna

mzwolinski

California

3.68/5  rDev -17.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3

This is a beautiful beer. Pours almost black, with just a hint of ruby when backlit. But the head... the head is just perfect. About a finger-thick, light tan creamy head which lasts the whole way down. Really just exactly right.

The aroma is decent, smoky malts with a hint of fruit and a noticeable presence of alcohol. It's a bit over 8.0% ABV, and it shows. Essentially the only flavors that come through for me are a *very* smokey malt flavor, and a strong alcohol flavor. Together, these combine to leave a very heavy feeling in the throat. The two combined are altogether appropriate for the main body of the flavor, but balance could have been added by adding perhaps a bit more hop to the finish, or perhaps bringing out some fruity flavors in the middle. As it stands -- and God I hate to say this given Stone's *exemplary* journies in over-the-topness with its other beers -- this one is just a bit much for me.

Ah yes, the alcohol.

Serving type: bottle

09-09-2002 22:24:56 | More by mzwolinski

sinistersteve

Oregon

3.78/5  rDev -14.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Mind you, I'm not a porter fan, although, I am a huge Stone fan, so anytime I see the words Stone and Anniversary in the same sentence, I know I'm on to something good. Well, I guess as far as porters good, this is about as good as they get. Deep dark, cola like appearance with a almost chocolaty aroma to it. Hints of coffee in the flavor, but a noticable hop pressence also. Porter fans should probably enjoy this one quite well, but this hophead will stick with something with a lot more bite to it.

Serving type: bottle

09-02-2002 21:47:03 | More by sinistersteve