Stone Smoked Porter With Chocolate & Orange Peel

I have really enjoyed the other Smoked Porter variants I’ve gotten to try, so iI was excited to see Stone Smoked Porter With Chocolate & Orange Peel on shelves and draft boards here in Savannah. Smoked beers can be challenging in general, but I feel like Stone does a good job of making this series mild enough to be approachable, and complex enough to be good!

This pours with a very dark brown color, very typical for the style. The aroma on this is shockingly orange! The chocolate is pretty strong as well, and I am just stunned at how mild the smoked malts are on the nose. There is more smokiness on the taste, but once again it is rather mild. There is a great mix of smoked malt, chocolate and bright orange citrus in the taste. The beer finishes very orange forward before settling into a nice roasty/chocolaty/smokey aftertaste. The mouth-feel on this feels very thin, but the great flavor of the beer overpowers that disappointment!

I know each palate is different, but I am stunned by the people who say they taste no orange and chocolate in this. For me they are all not only there, but perfectly compliment each other.