Stone Smoked Porter

This is a wonderful offering from Stone Brewing Company.  I first tried it over at the Highland Brewing Company in Sturbridge, MA.  Highland was suffering from the hop shortage at the time, so instead of offering their own beers (of which they were out) they had a selection of craft brews on tap.  I picked up this one up at K J Baron's in a 22oz bomber.  It's a solid porter, though I really don't get much smoky flavor from it.  Harpoon's Rauchefetzen has set the standard for smoked beers for me, and since I really like the flavor I was hoping this beer would emphasize the smoke more.  But it is a solid porter, nonetheless.  

It pours a rich ebony color with a touch of mahogany around the edges.  The head is tan, airy and thick.  It dissipates quickly, but leaves nice lacing throughout drinking.  The aroma is pretty tame and consists mostly of a roasted malt smell with a hint of vanilla.  The flavor is much better: strong bitter chocolate and coffee flavors, a touch of sweet caramel and plenty of hop bitterness.  The smoke flavor was noticable as an aftertaste.  Pleasant, but like I said, they could up the smoke with no complaints from me.  It is lightly carbonated and very drinkable.  This porter emphasises the bitterness of the dark malts and is a great contrast to the sweet, malty flavor of the Baltic porter I tried last night.  Both are good, but they are definitely quite different!