Framinghammer Imperial Baltic Porter

Review Date 1/27/2026  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Baltic Porter   Brewery: Jack's Abby   Country: USA   State: Massachusetts   $ Per OZ: $.20 (B)   ABV: 10%

Well, here we go again. Here’s a beer that I had been wanting to try for so long, finally got to, took some tasting notes but then never fleshed them out into a review here on Guruofbrew.com. The beer in question is Jack’s Abby Framinghammer Baltic Porter, and I am here to right the scales on this one. I first drank the beer in November of 2023, and that’s when I took the tasting notes you will read shortly.

I don’t see Framinghammer often, but when I do, I buy it, and I picked up another can recently from Half Time Beverage. I drank that after the Patriots (Framing)hammered the Houston Texans in the NFL playoffs, and I noticed a new label on the beer. I went to add that scanned label to my review, only to find-no review. It’s worth noting that I have also had a bourbon barrel aged version of this beer, and a French toast inspired one, too. I have tasting notes on those, too, but no reviews. I know. I need to get busy.

Jack’s Abby says:

You’re holding an original, boundary-pushing lager. This is a big Baltic Porter that might remind you of an Imperial Stout with noticeable sweetness, balanced by roasted malt and hop bitterness. A lengthy conditioning creates a smooth, chocolaty mouthfeel enhanced by brown sugar.

Jack’s Abby only does lagers. I respect that, because most craft breweries focus on ales, usually including 50 million IPAs. A bottom-fermented Baltic porter is right up their alley. This is an imperial Baltic porter; Baltic porters are already usually strong, this one is even stronger.

How…strong…is…it, you ask? Jack’s Abby Framinghammer Imperial Baltic Porter has an alcohol content of 10% by volume with 45 IBUs. Most recently, I paid $5.49 for my pint can from Half Time; the first can I ever drank was from Craft Shack and cost $10.49. I did have a discount code and got it for $6.27, though. Total Wine sells it for $12.99 a 4-pack in Burlington, Massachusetts. The can I took notes on in 2023 was stamped Canned 11/09/23. I did not get the date off my most recent can before IO discarded it.

Jack’s Abby Framinghammer Baltic Porter pours to a dark black (but not opaque) color with a thick creamy tan head and a nose of dark roast and licorice. Taking a sip, the beer is medium in body appropriate to the style. It’s dark roasty but clean and packed with licorice and to a lesser degree roasted chicory notes. Perhaps some powdered cocoa, too.  Throughout, the beer is rich and roasty and finishes dry with warming alcohol.

A Jack’s Abby classic and a beer I would love to age, if I could hang onto it long enough. One of these days I will do just that, and get back to you with details.