Santa Fe Brewing State Pen Porter

Beer Name: State Pen Porter
Brewery: Santa Fe Brewing Co. (Santa Fe, NM)
ABV: 6.4%
How sold: 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles; kegs
Where bought: Belmont Station (Portland, OR)****

****Note: Santa Fe Brewing sent a special shipment of their Pale Ale to Portland for the 2015 Craft Beer Conference. Santa Fe Brewing otherwise does NOT ship to Oregon or Washington.

Price: $1.97 for a 12 oz. single
Date Opened: April 13, 2015
When brewed? Available year-round.

What's on the Website: "A trademark beer of the Santa Fe Brewing Company's master brewer, Ty Levis, the State Pen Porter has every reason to be one of his favorites. It is flavorful, swimming with notes of nuts and chocolate; it is drinkable, so drinkable that it is almost as if pint after pint were drinking itself."

Awards: 14 awards as of April 2015. Click here for the list!

Where distributed: Santa Fe Brewing ships to mostly the SW United States. Found in NM, AZ, NV, and TX. See if Santa Fe Brewing ships to your area!

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured an attractive dark black color into a pint glass. Significant carbonation with a few millimeters of tan head. 4.25/5

Smell (25%): Smoky roasted chocolate and malty aroma. Porter fans will probably enjoy this one. 4/5

Taste (40%): Starts out roasted bitter with smoky chocolaty notes. The smoky/roasted experience lasts throughout the drinking experience. Aftertaste is quite nice for a porter, and reminds me of a smoky root beer. 4/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-bodied; quite crisp for a porter. Carbonation really strikes the tongue. Fairly easy to drink. 4/5

Overall (20%): A good porter. Once again, I bought this beer in the name of science, as we generally don't get Santa Fe Brewing beers in the Pacific NW. A much more refreshing experience than I initially thought I'd have. Of all the beers I had from Santa Fe Brewing to date, this one was the best. 4/5

Final Weighted Rating: 4.013/5