Stone Coast Brewing Company - Black Bear Porter

This complex, big roasty porter is just the sort of thing we like to have in summer months as a counterpoint to all the wits, hefeweizens and pale ales more commonly sought this time of year. On the nose, expect chocolaty notes of fudge and cocoa blended with raisins, condensed milk, the slightest bit of citrusy hops, and a noticeably vinous note reminiscent of a big cabernet. Along with these rich aromas, look for the soft, dry, chalky roastiness intrinsic to the style. The flavor begins with a bitterness upfront, but notice how the flavor seems to blossom as it goes down. There's an evolution that starts with faint notes of chicory and light & sweet coffee, and some fig-like notes, almost like raisinettes rolled in crushed coffee beans. Roasted malts are prominent but well balanced by the sweeter notes, rounded out by the overall bitterness. Recommended with chocolate fudge brownies or Mexican Chicken Mole.

The roots of the Stone Coast Brewing Company go back to 1992 when their founders conceived of the Sunday River Brewing Company—a very successful brewpub nestled at the base of Maine's Sunday River ski area. With their dedication to creating great microbrews and serving them with good food and fantastic service, they've become well known in their region. In 1995, the company owners expanded by creating the Stone Coast Brewing Company in downtown Portland. Under the stewardship of Grant Wilson, an entrepreneur known for his love of great music, great beer and baseball (specifically, the Red Sox), the Stone Coast Brewing Company experienced a number of important milestones and continues to contribute to the local community. For one, the Portland location was for many years host to some of the best up-and-coming music acts of the region, doubling as a small-to-moderate capacity performance hall. Wilson also owns the State Theater, a downtown Portland building dating from the 1920s that hosts musical performances on a regular basis. His nurturing of local music acts probably had something to do with the genesis of the "theme song" for their 420 IPA—which you can hear by visiting their website (URL below). In 2003, they expanded again, building their own full-scale, state of the art brewery. In 2004, brewmaster Tom Kostovick and operations man Skip Hopkins got a new canning machine to play with (which made them one of the first microbreweries in the country to can beer, something we expect to see more of in the coming years). And another major milestone we should mention—one of the Stone Coast beers, Knuckleball Bock, is now served in a sports bar which is housed in the basement of Fenway Park—certainly the realization of a dream of Wilson's (as a Red Sox fan). If you're ever in the Portland area of Maine, we encourage you to check out both the Sunday River Brewing Company brewpub in Bethel ((207) 824-4235), and the Stone Coast Brewing Company restaurant in downtown Portland ((207) 773-BEER). And of course, if you're interested in taking a tour of the Stone Coast brewery, they start on Friday afternoons at, not surprisingly, 4:20pm. For more information about the brewery, check out their web site at http://www.stonecoast.com/.