Blackbeard's Breakfast (Revisited)

"On your way now. And tell the world that you sailed with Blackbeard."

- Blackbeard

If one sailed with Blackbeard, what would one eat? Historical accounts noted that, generally, pirate vessels generally stocked themselves with meat, vegetables and perhaps even fruit. There are stories of how one pirate - Francois L'Onnais - offered in 1666 to leave the port of Maracaibo if he was supplied with 500 head of cattle. Another pirate, Henry Morgan raided a Cuban town seeking a ransom of 500 cattle. Even when they were successful, pirates still had issues. For example, what do you do with 500 cattle at sea? The possible answer lies with another pirate, Jean Tocard, who occupied the Mexican port city of Tampico in 1682 for the purpose of slaughtering cattle. 

Notwithstanding these stories about cattle, the cuisine aboard a pirate ship could hardly be equated with the menu of a steakhouse. Fresh ingredients don't last long with the salty air of the open seas. After the first few days or weeks, the menu aboard a pirate ship would feature more salted and pickled options than fresh meat or vegetables. That fresh steak would have more likely been a salted strip of jerky better used as a belt than as something that could be digested in a stomach.

I write all of this because I got to thinking about this question as I poured a bottle of Blackbeard's Breakfast, a porter brewed by Heavy Seas Brewing just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. What would Blackbeard's breakfast actually look like? Once I took a sip of the beer, those thoughts quickly subsided.

Instead, I got lost in the pitch black color of the porter, graced only by the caramel notes of the foam. Those are shades or hues that probably resembled the salted, jerked meat ate by pirates after weeks at sea. In any event, the brewers note that the beer is their take on an imperial porter, and, in that regard, an oily black beer is right on target. 

The Blackbeard's Breakfast also hits all of the other notes for an imperial porter. There were the aromatic elements of the roasted malts, twisting together with the aroma of the dark Sumatra coffee from Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company. (I always like it when brewers incorporate local ingredients and locally-owned businesses as part of the creativity in the brewing process.) I could also get the faint whiffs of the alcohol coming from the beer being aged in bourbon barrels. That aging also made its way into the taste of the beer, with a strong bourbon backbone upon which the coffee notes and roasted malt flavors were layered, as well as the ABV, which is 10%.

Heavy Seas' Blackbeard Breakfast is perhaps one of the best imperial porters that I have had in recent memory. In fact, it may the best one that I have had in a very long time. If you can find it on a store's shelf, it is definitely worth the price. However, given it is only a limited release, chances are one will have to wait ... just like a pirate ... for a fresh new release.

ENJOY!

P.S. As it turns out, I previously reviewed Heavy Seas' Blackbeard's Breakfast over two years ago. I did not realize that fact until after I posted this review. In any event, the previous review can be found here. 

Port City Brewing Company's Porter

Recently, a friend told me about a new brewery that he visited in Alexandria, Virginia.  The brewery, Port City Brewing Company, is one of a few new breweries that have or will be opening their doors this year.  My friend also mentioned the tours provided by the brewery on Saturdays.  So, on a recent Saturday, Clare and I paid a visit to Port City Brewing to get a tour of the facilities and to try some of its beers.

Port City Brewing Company has four beers that comprise its year-round selection, including its Porter.  The "porter" style of beer supposedly gets its name from the fact that, during the 18th century, this dark beer popular among the street porters and river porters of London.  The beer gets its color from  the use of darker malts, such as roasted or brown malts.   These malts are usually predominate over the hops.  And, for the most part, the ABV of these beers is usually on the lower side of the beer spectrum, hovering between 4% and 5.4%.

Port City Brewing Company brews its porter in the style of an American Porter.  The porter style was introduced to America during the colonial times, and in the eighteenth century, breweries produced American porters in New England and Pennsylvania.  During the middle of the nineteenth centuries, American brewers switched from using ale yeast (which ferments on top) to lager yeast (which ferments on the bottom).  This style of porter, referred to as the "Pennsylvania Porter," continued until the 1970s and 1980s, when some of the first craft brewers reintroduced the "American Porter," returning to the use of ale yeast in the production. 

The Port City Brewing Company's Porter pours a black in color with a smooth foam on top, which is a very good start.  As I poured the beer, I took in some of the aromatic elements, which were very suggestive of ground coffee beans and some chocolate malt.  The beer is slightly sweet  on the front end, which is a nice surprise.  Usually, when I try porters, there is no sweetness, but a lot of roasted flavors.  Those roasted flavors assert themselves in this Porter, particularly in the finish.  The initial sweetness gives way to flavors of roasted coffee beans and to just a little chocolate.  This beer exceeds the style of an American porter in both flavor and, by the way, alcohol content.  At 7.5% ABV, this beer has an alcohol content that rivals imperial porters, rather than other American porters. 

American porters, like Port City Brewing Company's Porter, are best paired with roasted or grilled meats, like a porterhouse steak.  This Porter can also be paired with spicy foods, such as Mexican or Cajun foods, because the roasted flavors of the beer will provide a good counter to the peppers in those foods.  And, when considering dessert, you can guess that a roasted, coffee flavor will go well with anything that has cream or chocolate.

The Port City Brewing Company's Porter is available on draft at many restaurants in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia, or at the brewery in Alexandria, Virginia.  It is also available in bottle, selling for $9.99 a six pack.

ENJOY!

For more information about Port City Brewing Company, check out its website and go for a visit.  They provide very informative tours on Saturdays at 12:30 and 2:00.  For more about the porter style, check out the Beer Judge Certification Program and Wikipedia.  

Sinebrychoff Porter

When one thinks about beer, the country of Finland does not usually come to mind.  For me, I remember a Scandanavian beer tasting that Clare and I went to where we were able to sample about ten different craft brews from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and, yes, Finland.  Recently, when my parents to Clare and me to AMP 150, I got to try a porter brewed by Sinebrychoff Brewery.

Sinebrychoff Brewery claims to be the oldest brewery in Scandinavia, originally founded in 1819 in Helsinki by a Russian emigrant, Nikolai Sinebrychoff.  The brewery is best known for its porter, but it also produces soft drinks, holding the license to produce all Coca Cola products in Finland.  Since its founding, the company has become one of the largest brewers in Finland.  It has also become part of Carlsberg A/S, an even larger brewing company based out of Denmark.

Setting aside the large corporate nature of the brewery (as I usually prefer small brewers over larger ones), this beer is a good example of a "porter."  I use the quotation marks because, according to the brewer, their "porter" is brewed in accordance with the imperial stout style.  They use four malts -- pilsner, Munich, brown and caramel -- with the latter two types of malts giving the beer its distinctive color, aroma and taste.  The brewer also uses Saazar and bittering hops in the brewing process.

The brewer recommends this beer be paired with game and meat dishes, along with oysters and chocolate desserts.  I had this beer with the first few courses of my Chef's Choice dinner at AMP 150.  It went well with the Velvet Mushroom Soup, the Chicken Liver Pate and the Grilled Sweetbreads.

All in all, this beer is a good example of an imperial stout/porter.  Although I have not seen it in stores, it may be available in larger beer stores or at restaurants like AMP 150. 

ENJOY!

For more about the Sinebrychoff Brewery, check out its website and Wikipedia.