Praying Mantis Porter

Hartford Better Beer Co. Praying Mantis Porter
1 12 oz bottle, $2.00, ?% ABV

Harvest Fine Wine & Spirits, West Hartford

There’s this guy on Twitter from the area who has similar interests to me. And that’s why Twitter is cool – people who would never happen to meet in real life get to get to know each other via Twitter. I like that.

This particular guy has been on an anti-CT beer rant for a couple years, even as the scene has vaulted light-years ahead in just that short time. One particular target of his ire was this beer: The Praying Mantis Porter.

I thought this was kind of funny because as I was compiling the list of Connecticut beers, I had no idea this beer was part of the Hartford Better Beer family. So thanks to his hatred of this beer, I filled in a hole on the site.

And I hate the holes.

And for some reason I was prodded to hate this beer. By a guy I’ve never met in real life. Go figure.

I was also pre-destined to hate this beer because of its awful, awful label. Truly one of the worst I’ve ever seen and while the name pays homage to our esteemed State Insect, it’s pretty awful too. (And as I’ve ranted here before, neither is as awful as Hartford Better Beer’s website design. Eesh.)

HBB says:

They say a lot, actually. But I have a feeling that some day, that page from 1997 or so will disappear. For shame. Anyway, an excerpt:

Intertwined with the history of the industrial revolution, properly made Porters are hearty and satisfying beers for hard-working people that are nonetheless “session” beers – meant to be drunk in quantities. Praying Mantis Porter overwhelms with complexity rather than with quantity of flavor.

I’d parse that last sentence if I knew where to begin. Does it make sense to you? And I’m just dumb? (There’s a big chance of that being the case.)

So… What did I think? I think it’s alright. It’s certainly just a middling porter with a sweetness I don’t really like all that much, but it’s not awful. I’ve come to like porters and sessionable dark beers in my older age. It just seems to me that a complex beer (but not having quantity of flavor) that you can have a few of with no drunk effects is a good thing.

Just please, I beg you, please update that insanely terrible praying mantis head graphic from, what, Windows 95 clip art?

Overall Rating: C
Rating vs. Similar style: D

Beer Advocate’s Reviews of Praying Mantis Porter
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