Hey wait a minute! I just enjoyed the new spring seasonal from New Belgium Brewing Company called Portage Porter, and you know what? I didn’t even know it was a spring seasonal! Nope, I sure did not. I certainly wasn’t on the lookout for spring seasonal beers in January. It’s just too early to be thinking about spring, since it only officially became winter a few short weeks ago. I haven’t even taken down my Christmas lights yet.

Portage is one of the beers of the month for January at Taco Mac, and New Belgium the featured brewer. There were a few other spring brews on tap, including Samuel Adams Cold Snap. I’ll drink the beers, but truth be told, as much as we would like the weather to warm up in January, it’s not going to happen folks. That said, a rich hearty porter like Portage seems to fit the bill in the depths of winter all the same.

The name Portage is a boat related term, and it refers to carrying a boat over land. It comes from the French verb “porter”, which means to carry. I can see the connection between “porter” and porter, hence Portage, but it still seems a bit of a stretch. You could easily also have called the beer “Carry” porter, and I am sure some brewer will do that if they have not already done so. American craft brewers, you see, are running out of names for their beer. NPR has an interesting article on this.

From the label:

Row, row, carry your boat. Spring means high water and deep porter. Our new Portage takes the buoyant aromas of roasted coffee, chocolate and almonds, and steers then toward a silky-smooth mouthfeel rolling one sip into another.

Ingredients from the website:

Hops: Target, Nugget

Malts: Pale, Munich, Black, Chocolate

New Belgium Portage Porter has an alcohol content of 6% by volume with 38 IBUs. I paid $5.75 for a 20-ounce mug at Taco Mac, and I’ve seen this in six-packs for $8.99. Speaking of six-packs, do you know how beer ended up being sold 6 bottles at a time? The legend has it this was the maximum number of bottles brewers thought a wife could “carry” home to her husband. Or porter, if you live in France.

My mug of New Belgium Portage Porter arrived a jet black color with a thin tan head and good chocolate and roast in the nose. The beer has a medium body, chocolate, chicory and licorice in the palate, bitter roasted malt and a pleasant minty grassy hop aroma and bitterness too in the finish.

Overall, a very nice porter indeed, and one I’d be happy to “carry” home one of these fine winter or spring days.

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

Home