brew dog blog

Santa Fe Brewing is a fairly obscure brewery up here in New York, with about three 12oz bottles available alongside a barleywine in bombers. The small bottles are all pretty solid with the State Pen Porter being the top choice. It pours a deep black and has a big chocolaty malt nose. The taste is much the same although as it warms up a definite licorice note is struck on the finish. Fairly robust body that manages to be quite drinkable. Definitely one to look out for.

Great Divide is a Colorado brewery that has a fairly solid lineup. Excellent amber (unfortunately no longer available in New York,) well balanced pale ale, hoppy IPA, oak aged imperial stout and a balanced take on a west-of-the-Mississippi-barleywine. They also have a raspberry beer that’s best not talked (or thought) about. They also do a robust porter named after St. Bridget. The story goes that St. Bridget could turn her bath water into beer for the delight of the Irish monks. Seems like a strange story to tell about a retrofitted Celtic goddess but I’m not an early Christian monk. That being said, the St. Bridget’s Robust Porter does seem a bit like someone’s dirty bath water. The body was on the thin side, well within what is acceptable for a porter but really not anything I would call robust. The flavor was dominated by caramel with some bittersweet chocolate notes. I might have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t expecting something somewhat robust. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but it is damn hard to not read the label on a brew.