Baltic Porter - First Edition

2/6/08 - Baltic Porter - I gotta say that it's been a while since I've been this excited about the upcoming release of a new beer. This is our first attempt at a Baltic Porter and it's been tasting great out of the fermenter. Huge body with lots of fruit notes balanced by dark roasty goodness. We've even been getting hints of licorice which I find intriguing.

Our decision to add this beer to our Big Beer Series was based on having a beautiful label that had already been designed by Miss Teen USA, Joanne Francis. Years ago we released a Winter Porter with a great image of Father Time on the label. That beer eventually evolved into our Robust Porter. The label sat dormant, sadly biding its time (get it?) waiting for another shot in the show. Since I'm always happy to add styles to the Big Beer Series I figured it'd be fairly easy to change Winter to Baltic and we'd get a new beer to brew.

The biggest decision in terms of what we wanted this beer to be was whether to brew an ale or lager. There always seem to be conversations about this in the beer world. We decided to take the lager route and I'm glad we did. It adds a nice twist to the big chewy dark beer. Considering that our Imperial Stout is the next release this will be an interesting comparison to taste the two side by side. I hope ya'll enjoy drinking this beer as much as we liked making it.

Malt:
Pilsner
Munich
CaraHell
Dark Crystal 120
Carastan 35
Chocolate Malt
Black Malt

OG - 22.3° p
TG - 6.6° p
ABV - 8.7%

Hops:
IBU 40

Bittering - Magnum
Flavoring & Aroma - Liberty