The porter beer style was first introduced in England in the early 1700s and is still popular today. Especially in the United States, where American brewers like Deschutes, Great Lakes, and others have been crafting award-winning, sweet, fruity, chocolate, and lightly floral hopped porters for decades. And no time is better for a rich porter than the first true cold snap of fall.
First a quick note…
When it comes to stouts and porters, it’s pretty easy to mistake one for the other. They’re very similar in appearance and overall flavor. The main thing that sets the two apart is the fact that stouts are usually brewed with unmalted barley and porters are made with malted barley. This results in a porter having a lighter, sweeter body than a stout along with roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee notes, sometimes followed by light hops.
It’s a great fall beer because — while it’s still robust and rich at times — it can be lighter and have less body than its winter-ready stout counterpart. Below, you’ll find eight great examples of American porters that are particularly great for this time of year. Did we rank them? You’d better believe it!
8) Left Hand Death Before Disco
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Brewed with 2-row, Munich, Chocolate, Carafa, and Crystal malts as well as CTZ and Cascade hops, Death Before Disco is a sweet, lightly bitter, fruity porter that’s perfect for a fall dance party or simply sipping while you hang out around an autumnal bonfire.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of roasted malts, vanilla, freshly brewed coffee, and a light fruity aroma greets you before your first sip. The palate is chocolate-centered with espresso, toasted coconut, and vanilla beans. The finish is a mixture of sweetness and pleasant bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a great example of an American porter for chocolate fans. Semisweet chocolate fans, in particular.
7) Deschutes Black Butte
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
There are few American porters more well-known than Deschutes Black Butte. It’s brewed with Crystal, Carapils, and 2-row malts as well as wheat and Cascade, and Tettnang hops, giving it a roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and floral-hopped centered flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of fruit esters, dark chocolate, and roasted malts. Drinking it reveals notes of coffee beans, roasted malts, chocolate fudge, and lightly piney, bitter hops. The finish is dry and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
As American porters go, Deschutes Black Butte is lower on the sweetness scale and higher in bitterness than many others. Still… it’s tasty if you like some IBUs!
6) Oskar Blues Death By Coconut
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $12 for a four-pack
The Beer:
With a name like Death By Coconut, you should have a decent idea about what you’re in for when you crack open one of these bad boys. This American-made Irish-style porter is a mix of chocolate, roasted malts, and toasted coconut that will appeal to the porter fan with a sweet tooth.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is heavy on milk chocolate, roasted malts, and toasted coconuts. The palate continues this trend with a ton of roasted malts, dark chocolate, coffee, and a wallop of toasted coconut. You’d better like coconut if you open one of these beers.
Bottom Line:
This beer is the equivalent of a Mounds Bar in beer form. Chocolate, toasted coconut — a candy fan’s dream beer.
5) Great Lakes Brewing Edmund Fitzgerald
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter is named for the ship of the same name that sank in Lake Superior during a late fall storm in November of 1975. This complex, rich porter was brewed with 2-row base malt, Crystal 77, Chocolate malt, and roasted barley. It gets its hop presence from the use of Northern Brewer, Willamette, and Cascade hops.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of dark chocolate, freshly brewed coffee, roasted malts, and toffee start everything off on a great foot. Drinking it brings forth notes of espresso, bitter chocolate, roasted malts, caramel candy, and lightly floral hops. The finish is dry, mellow, and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This is a very complex American porter. Coffee, chocolate, roasted malts, caramel, it has everything a fan of the beer style could want.
4) Equilibrium Möbius
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $16 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
A Möbius strip is a mathematical object that is sometimes used to describe the bending of time and space. We’re not precisely sure what that has to do with this beer from Equilibrium, but it’s hard to mind when the result is this tasty! This 7% ABV porter is known for its roasted malt, coffee, and creamy flavor profile. It’s great, even if drinking it won’t help you time travel.
Tasting Notes:
This beer begins with a nose of vanilla beans, roasted malts, dark chocolate, treacle, licorice candy, and floral hops. The palate is all toasted vanilla beans, butterscotch, bitter chocolate, black licorice, roasted malts, and floral hops. The finish is sweet, mellow, and pleasantly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This beer is a great choice for porter fans who enjoy bitter dark chocolate, coffee, roasted malts, and spicy hops. It’s a very well-rounded beer.
3) Alaskan Smoked Porter
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $8 for a 22-ounce bottle
The Beer:
This isn’t your average porter — this annual release from Alaskan Brewing was one of the first smoked porters made in the US when it was first released in 1988. It gets its unique, smoky flavor from the use of five different malts, two types of hops, water, and yeast. The malts are smoked in small batches with locally sourced alder wood.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of roasted malts, dried fruits, caramel, and a ton of campfire smoke greet you before your first sip. Diving in, you’ll find hints of dark chocolate, roasted malts, molasses, and a healthy dose of smoke throughout. The finish is smoky and lightly bitter from the roasted malts.
Bottom Line:
This is a beer for the smoke fans. It’s a warming, sweet, lightly bitter smoke bomb of a fall beer.
2) Creature Comforts Koko Buni
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $14 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This 6.5% ABV milk stout is brewed with Ecuadorian and Haitian cocoa nibs, toasted coconut, and Ethiopian coffee. The result is an indulgent, creamy, sweet, lightly bitter porter you’ll want to have in your fridge whenever you can find it.
Tasting Notes:
The aromas of dark chocolate, roasted malts, freshly brewed coffee, and coconut sweetness are big on the nose. The palate is loaded with a mix of dark and milk chocolate, coffee beans, brown sugar, roasted malts, and a nice kick of toasted coconut that swirls throughout. It’s creamy, sweet, and borderline dessert-like.
Bottom Line:
Coconut and chocolate are real winning flavors when it comes to porters. Creature Comforts Koko Buni makes the best use of them.
1) Maine King Titus
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $8 for a 16.9-ounce bottle
The Beer:
Named for a beloved Rwandan Silverback Gorilla, this annual release from Maine Beer is brewed with Centennial and Columbus hops as well as American 2-Row, Caramel 40L, Chocolate, Munich 10L, and Caramel 80L malts as well as midnight wheat and flaked oats.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of dark chocolate, caramel candy, candied nuts, and coffee. Drinking it reveals notes of roasted malts, bitter chocolate, brewed coffee, caramel, sweet treacle, fruit esters, and lightly bitter, floral hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
You’ll have a hard time finding a porter as well-rounded as Maine King Titus. This beer has everything porter fans crave.