Hoppy Boston

Tomorrow I am planning on posting my first brewery overview article covering Maine Beer Company. As part of my research for this article, I have been tasting or re-tasting a few of their beers to get their work fresh in my head. I hope to make this a trend, posting a standard review right before the brewery overview. While Maine Beer Company is best known for their hop-forward brews, they also make a couple of darker/maltier beers. One of these selections is King Titus, an American porter. King Titus is named for a silverback gorilla, and part of the proceeds from every bottle go toward the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, one of the multitude of charities that Maine Beer Company routinely supports. King Titus is brewed with a laundry list of malts along with Centennial and Columbus hops. It is available year-round on draft and in 500 mL bottles.

Maine Beer Company King Titus pours a cola brown with a mild sand-colored head. The smell is dark and roast malts with just a touch of floral hops. The taste is also malt forward, lots of chocolate and coffee with a little caramel and nuttiness. There are some noticeable hops, touches of pine and grass along with a crisp bitterness, but nowhere near the hops you’d find in many of Maine Beer Company’s brews. King Titus has a full body without being overly heavy, at 7.5% ABV it is solidly boozy for a standard porter. The finish is a mixture of subtle maltiness and drying hops. I know MBC’s most popular beers are their IPAs (and for good reason, those beers are delicious), but you definitely shouldn’t sleep on King Titus. Hoppy Boston score: 4.5/5.

Previous Maine Beer Company Reviews:

Maine Beer Company Lunch, Maine Beer Co. Another One, Maine Beer Co./Allagash/In’finiti 2013 Ale, Maine Beer Co. Peeper