Back East Porter

Back East Porter
1 Growler, $9.00, 6% ABV
Purchased at the brewery, Bloomfied

If you don’t want to read my ramblings, Back East’s porter is really, really good. It just won the gold medal for American Porters at the Great International Beer Festival. From what I gather, that’s a very real thing.

The rest of you who are still reading, welcome to the random “this stuff might help you on a Connecticut-only version of “Jeopardy!” section.

I was thinking about this page and couldn’t get Cole Porter out of my head. Which sounds like a Cole Porter lyric. If you didn’t know, Cole Porter has some strong Connecticut ties, even though he was born and raised in Indiana. (I know, right? Indiana?!)

Anyway, Porter went to Yale and, as I keep finding to be the norm rather than the exception, his time at Yale seemed to be a series of important events. Like rooming with Dean Acheson, a historical figure who has appeared on CTMQ before. Where?

Over here, on my Russell Library page as part of the Middletown Heritage Trail where I wrote, “…Dean Acheson was born in Middletown so maybe he went to school here? He went to Groton and Yale and Harvard and then served on the in-town Wesleyan faculty where he undoubtedly became the commie that Joe McCarthy exposed him to be.”

I’m sure his friendship with the likes of Cole Porter didn’t help his cause.

Porter was an original Whiffenpoof, if you can believe it, and wrote the Yale fight songs that we still hear today at football and hockey games. So, even though Porter’s dad really (REALLY) wanted him to be a lawyer, he turned out to be rather successful with his music. (And he was apparently pretty popular at Yale and later Harvard too, which isn’t very porter-like.)

Creepy Cole Porter with a giant cigarette

Because porters, to me, are sort of the secret weird kid that nobody has any issues with, but no one really seeks out. You just don’t hear people saying they just want to relax with a nice porter, y’know?

Back East:

Back East Porter is a full-bodied chestnut brown porter with notes of chocolate and caramel. This hearty beer offers a thick light brown head and is hopped just enough to offset the sweet maltiness and roasty undertone. This bold beer is refreshing enough to be enjoyed year round, but is at its best as a satisfying winter warmer or paired with a grilled steak, pork roast, or a burger.

I think that’s a very good description of the beer. It’s not quite as hearty as I’d like, but that’s probably just the stout fan in me rearing its head. There is a bitterness on the finish that I could see turning off a few people, but like I said at the outset, this beer won a gold medal at the GIBF a few weeks ago, so go grab a pork roast and a growler of this stuff.

It’s delicious.

Overall Rating: A-
Rating vs. Similar style: A

Back East Brewing
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