Port Brewing Hot Rocks Lager

A lager from Port Brewing is certainly a surprise, given their predilection for high powered, high octane ales; as they state themselves on the bottle, it's not often they make a beer that requires mind over matter.

This was a collaboration between Port and Tonya Cornett of Bend Brewing.  They made this in the traditional Stein manner by dropping glowing rocks, heated by fire, directly into the wort.  This creates all sorts of smoke, steam, and rolling boils because of the extreme heat of the rocks, not to mention is a bit of a time machine back to some of the earliest days of brewing.

Port's decision to use Black Granite was obviously a good one, because as Lagers go, this one isn't bad at all.  Typical lack of aroma lager with a very dark amber color and fairly rich body.  The lager starts off as you would expect, as though sitting in a beer garden in Munich.  But as the taste develops, the Lager is heightened by what I can only imagine is the effects of the hot rocks, and the brilliance of the Port brewers.

An infusion of dark coffee notes that are indistinguishable in their roasted quality from the caramel malts finish with  a subtle hop bitterness; there's a nutty flavor mixed in there somewhere that I can't quite discern.  It's tempting to say the nut flavor comes from the addition of hazlenut because of the coffee and caramel, but I can't really be sure since it is very subtle.

This is a complex and delicious creation from Port.  As can be the case with Lagers, there's a slight lingering yeast flavor that comes through both in the aroma and the aftertaste, but certainly not enough to make you dislike this beer.  If you just picked up the glass without knowing the story, you'd probably think it was just a quality German Dunkel, but there's just enough creative additions in here to make it something more.

Hot Rocks Lager: ****

Warsteiner Dunkel

One of the few styles I'll venture out of my comfort zone for is a good German brew. I spent a few weeks in Munich for the World Cup in 2006, and in addition to copius amounts of bratwurst and football, I enjoyed the local flavor and culture of Bavarian beer. While most of the beers you'll find at beerhalls and beer gardens are hefeweizens, altbiers, and pilsners, I love a well crafted dunkel.

Unfortuantely, while the origin of this beer is unquestionably German, it's not one of the finer ones. A Dunkel is similar to a Hefeweizen, wheat beer, but is brewed as darker version (Dunkel means "dark") with deliciously complex malts and a low balancing bitterness. Most are brown and murky (from the yeast). The usual clove and fruity (banana) characters will be present, some may even taste like banana bread.

Mr. Warsteiner has that nose of sweetness, but dies on the back end and the body leaves for a fairly malty uninspired beer. For me it's just too bland, but is definitely a step up from Becks dark or Heineken dark. Try a Leffe Dark instead.

Dunkel: **