Hoppy Boston

As more breweries open and competition increases for market share many brewers seem to be resorting to gimmicks as a way to attract customers. Some are making bigger and bigger beers, higher alcohol, higher IBUs, ultra-hoppy triple IPAs or booze-forward barrel aged imperial stouts. Some have crazy in-your-face label art or bold to borderline offensive beer names. Others put every adjunct ingredient under the sun into their beers. Some of these beers are still legitimately great, some are fun to try once in a while, and some are just strange. What many of these brewers forget is that the best way to attract and retain customers is to just make great beer, no gimmicks necessary. Mayflower Brewing Company makes classic versions of traditional beer styles with straight forward labels and names that are typically just the brewery and beer style. One of their flagship beers is Mayflower Porter, their take on the popular British porter style. I usually make you wait until the end of the review to find out what I think of the beer, but I already let the cat out of the bag when I mentioned last week that this is one of my all-time favorite beers. Mayflower Porter is available year-round on draft and in 12 oz. bottles, so I highly recommend that you go and buy some now. It is a great beer to drink for any occasion, even for sitting around and reading a craft beer blog!

Mayflower Porter pours cola brown with a moderate tan head. The scent is a big hit of roasty dark malts, chocolate, coffee grounds and a little freshly baked bread. The flavor is full of tasty dark malts, touches of cocoa, mocha, espresso and caramel. While the malts are at the forefront there is just enough earthy hops to provide balance and dry out the finish a little. The beer is medium bodied, goes down smooth and it isn’t overly boozy at 5.5% ABV. This beer is great, no crazy ingredients, no gimmicks, just a near-perfectly constructed version of a classic beer style. If you like porter and haven’t tried this beer yet it is highly recommended. If you are familiar with it and haven’t had it in a while you should try it again. Hoppy Boston score: 5.0/5.

Previous Mayflower Reviews:

Mayflower Scotch Ale, Mayflower Spring Hop, Mayflower Oatmeal Stout