Great Divide Brewing Co's Saint Bridget's Porter

Saint Bridget’s is an example of an  American Porter which is based on the English Porter style. This style typically has a high hop flavor to it, lots of malt, often chocolate and coffee flavors as well. Introduced to the U.S. during colonial times, many American brewers used other flavorings such as molasses and gets it coloring from the use of brown malts.

The Great Divide Brewing Company hails all the way from my home state of Colorado and my home town of Denver. Started in 1994 founder ” Brian Dunn recognized Denver’s potential to be a great beer city,. Combining his business background with his passion for beer, which was developed through his international travels and his experience as a homebrewer, he decided to start a brewery. He set up shop in an abandoned dairy-processing plant at the edge of downtown Denver and began brewing the beers that would eventually carry Great Divide Brewing Company to its status as one of America’s most decorated microbreweries and would help transform Denver into an international destination for beer lovers. Brian Dunn’s goal was to create adventurous beers that reflect the Colorado lifestyle. He wanted to capture Denver’s urban energy and Colorado’s awe-inspiring mountains. From great session beers like DPA to massively hoppy, big beers like Hercules, Great Divide has become synonymous with progressive, balanced, assertive hand-crafted ales. ‘The excellence of our beer is the result of our unwavering commitment to both experimentation and quality. A beer like Old Ruffian would never be imagined without the former, nor would it be drinkable without the latter. We are also firmly dedicated to our community, whose support has been essential to our success, and the environment, which we depend upon for ingredients and which we have a duty to protect. In short, we’d like to think of Great Divide as an example of everything that makes Denver, and Colorado, so great.’”

Appearance is fairly typical for a porter: dark brown, cloudy and hard to see through. Hold this one up to the light, and it lets the suns rays whine through ever so gently accents what is an almost golden brown in color. Poured slowly into a pint glass, the bubbles came trickling to the top as I straightened out the glass. A decent amount of foam produced by the pesky little bubbles.

Place this one near your nose and you’re in for a treat. A deep, rich smokiness comes out. Caramel and rye malt seem to be prominent as well, highlights of chocolate and spice. A hint of hops on the nose of this one as well.

Goes down very smooth with the chocolate and spice hitting me first. The chocolate is a little sweet, giving the taste some bitterness I didn’t expect to get. Could have been the hops, but tastes more like a bittersweet chocolate. Another sip brings out the spice, subtle but it was there. Like liquid pleasure, just makes you feel good while going down, anxious for another sip.

Mouthfeel is very nice. The bubbles are perfect and leave a smooth, crisp feeling in your mouth.

Overall this is a very solid porter. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and even went out to buy more of it at the local store. Porters can be tricky in my opinion and can come out week. Not so in this case. A great beer from Great Divide and weighing in at around 5.9% ABV, this is a good session porter. This paired very well with plate of mozzarella, sourdough bread and salami I was snacking on.