Try?
It’s amazing the places you can find good beer these days. There are few places in America today where there isn’t a craft brewery reasonably close, unless you live in a really remote area. When I first moved to Georgia in 2001, there were a few craft breweries here, but only a few. Now we have over 60. Indeed, even neighboring Alabama, which had no craft breweries operating when I relocated to the south, now has more than 30, one of which is Blue Pants from Madison, Alabama.
Madison is just outside of Huntsville and is about 165 miles from me. I haven’t been there to visit the Blue Pants brewery just yet, but if Blue Pants Chocolate Oatmeal Porter is any indication of the quality of the beers they make, I need to do just that. Mind you, this beer isn’t actually brewed with chocolate, just chocolate malt, but there’s a reason they call it chocolate malt. The roasting of the malt imparts similar flavors to the roasting of cocoa beans (of coffee beans for that matter).
From the label:
Brewed with nothing but the highest quality English ingredients, including floor-malted Maris Otter, Oat Malt, and two types of Chocolate Malt, this Chocolate Oatmeal Porter is sure to please. The end result is a malty, full bodied oatmeal porter.
Ingredients from the website:
Malt:
Maris Otter
Oat
Crystal
Dark Chocolate
Pale Chocolate
Hops:
Northern Brewer
Blue Pants Chocolate Oatmeal Porter has an alcohol content of 6% by volume with 25 IBUs. I bought a single bottle but it was running $9.99 a six-pack at Wild Hare Brewing Company (a growler shop) in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
My bottle of Blue Pants Chocolate Oatmeal Porter was a gusher! As soon as I pop the cap foam surges out and I have to drink from the bottle to contain it. Pouring into the glass produces a massive head and it takes ages to fully decant the beer. When I do, there’s a delightful dark roastiness in the nose. Taking a sip, the beer is full of bittersweet dark chocolate, roasted malt, silky oats and a delightful roasted coffee finish. I might like a tad more body, I think, but this is about appropriate to a porter.
Despite the over-foaming of my bottle, I very much enjoyed this beer, and I suspect it won’t be long before we see Blue Pants beers in Georgia. When we do, I’ll be certain to buy this one again-as well any other beers they make.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler
