Standard Operating Porter
Written: Mar 29 '00 (Updated Mar 29 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Classic, truly classic quaffing porter
Cons: None to mention
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| beerfly's Full Review: Flying Fish Porter 2404b |
I wish this beer were ubiquitous. People talk of 'fall-back' beers; beers you can always count on when you walk into a place that turns out to be The Pit of Beer Despair. 'If only they have Sam Adams,' you think to yourself, and sometimes you'll luck out and see the familiar green rectangle of a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale tap.
Around Philadelphia, Flying Fish Porter (FFP) has become my fall-back beer. Lest anyone think I was damning FFP with faint praise, my fall-back standards are pretty high! I'm looking for a local fall-back beer, so I can support my local brewers. FFP fits the bill, being local (Cherry Hill, NJ is less than a 45 minute drive for me), widely available, and a more than satisfactory jar of beer.
This is a drinking porter, not one confused about being a stout. There are no dark roasted malts, no smell of coffee or bitter chocolate. The Fish is a malty beer, though not an overly sweet one, and not heavy or thick. It is a classic porter, made (as were the original porters) to be drunk by the pint-after-pint measure without bloating or hammering the drinker.
Eye the beer. It's dark brown, yet light enough to artfully catch a few sunbeams and bend them through its ruddy, mahogany depths. The head (unless you're lucky enough to be drinking it on cask--more on that shortly) is surprisingly light, a parchment color bed of mousse.
Nose the beer. Beneath the layers of malt (toffee, 'biscuit,' some dark caramel) you'll find a hint of light alefruit: melon, just-ripe white peaches.
Now get stuck into it; this is not a beer to sip and swish, no matter how geekly you are, this is a beer to swallow. There's a rush of moderately rich yet mainly dry malt, and finally the hops show up, outriders on the wave of malt flavor. The finish (yes, you're there already) is more malt with a bigger undercurl of hops that says nothing more than "Good! Let's have another!" At least, that's what it always seems to be saying to me.
About that cask Porter. That's worth keeping an eye out for, because cask FFP is one of the very few U.S.-brewed porters that displays a serious amount of classic real ale 'fruitiness.' When the Fish is in the firkin, you'll want to spend more time with your nose in the glass. It's a real delight. My advice is to check northeast Philly's Grey Lodge Pub: they do a firkin every Friday, and once a month it's Firkin Fish Friday. (You'll probably find brewery owner Gene Muller there that night.) All Flying Fish beers are good on cask; the Porter is outstanding.
Bottled Fish Porter's pretty good too, and I usually keep some in the house. It is bottle-conditioned, but I have not found it to have quite the same character as the cask.
Ubiquitous. Come on, Flying Fish: do it for Philly. Do it for me!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
beerfly
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Member: Lew Bryson
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 79 members
About Me:
One bourbon, one Scotch, one beer, eh? I'll take Kentucky Spirit, Scapa, and HopDevil.
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