Taddy Porter, Samuel Smith's Brewery

I'm babysitting my niece right now, so I've taken the show on the road. I packed up the next few beers and a glass and jumped onto the highway. Speaking of which, if you pass semis on the right, stop it. That is extremely dangerous. I see you.

I don't want to see you die.

Moving on to happy things, how about some beer history?  Porter emerged from the family of brown ales in the early to mid 18th century.  Some claim it was created to approximate a popular drink that was a mixture of three different beers, but there doesn’t seem to be definitive proof of that.  It was originally made with brown malts until the hydrometer was incorporated into brewing.  I should explain that.  Step into my office.

The hydrometer is a device that

measures the specific gravity, or density, of a liquid. The earliest accounts

of the device date back to the

early 5th century.  Common uses

are to measure the amount of

fermentable sugars in a batch of

beer, check the freezing point of

antifreeze and measure the

water to waste ratio in urine.  No

worries though, we each have our own. No sharing.

These measurements gave brewers their first look at the efficiencies of malts and the brown varieties did not do very well.  Producers switched to the more efficient pale malt and relied on burnt sugar to maintain the color until adjuncts were outlawed in Britain.  Thankfully, around that time Black Patent malt was invented, enabling brewers to darken their beers legally.  This basic grain bill is the one used for Porter to this very day.  That said, time to move on to today’s beer.  Samuel Smith’s Taddy Porter.

                                     

Quite often the diminutive is used to express endearment.  Spanish makes this clear with names.  Take a name like Gustavo.  If I make it Gustavito, it means both “little Gustavo” or “love Gustavo.”  This connection is less evident in English, but still exists.  Calling this beer Taddy Porter, after its hometown of Tadcaster, is probably the best way to describe its flavor.  It strikes you as such a sweet, well adjusted beer that couldn’t hurt a fly.  With that head, so creamy and orderly.  The mouthfeel that reminds you all over again what smooth feels like.  The rich maltiness that just plain makes you happy. If beers wore clothes, Taddy Porter would sport an argyle sweater vest and glasses.  Girls would fawn over how “cute” it was.  But this beer isn’t an adorable little baby, it’s an adorable master of the craft.  Taddy Porter is a classic and knows it.  This beer doesn’t need to prove itself by adding extra hops or ramping up its alcohol content.  Samuel Smith sells this stuff by creating a brew with which everyone can identify.  This is truly the working man’s beer.

                                     
Maybe if you had a better tool, you wouldn't have to work so hard.

It is important to remember how closely porter is related to stout.  Stout actually started out as the stronger end of the porter spectrum.  So it is possible to think of porter as a mild stout, which is great considering the problem anyone ever has with a stout is that it’s too in-your-face.  The moral of the story is, you like this beer.