Try?
Things are looking up for Rhode
Island's Narragansett Brewing Company. Sales are up (to 360,000 cases per
year according to the company website), the beer is being sold at major
sports venues like Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium, and interest seems to
be growing exponentially. A new beer, Narragansett Fest, was recently rolled
out, and the flagship Narragansett Lager is rated Highest Rated Premium
Domestic Lager by reviewers on Beeradvocate.com.
Still, the company has a long way to go towards selling the 7.5 million
cases per year they need to raise enough funds to build a brewery. Right
now, Narragansett contracts it's beer out to companies in New York,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The goal, however , is to build a new
facility, preferably in Cranston on the site of the old Narragansett Brewery
that closed in 1981. To help them towards that end, I picked up some of
their beer while in Rhode Island earlier this year, amongst which was the
revived Narragansett Porter.
One thing is for sure, Narragansett can't be accused of jumping on the craft
beer bandwagon. That's because the company was brewing bock and porter in
Rhode Island even before prohibition. And although the brewery closed just
before I came of legal drinking age, I did manage to acquire a few bottles
of the old porter on Ebay back in May of 1999. Here's what I wrote then:
The other day I got a package in the mail containing two full bottles of
Narragansett Porter, circa 1970's. I don't know where these beers have been,
or under what circumstances they've been stored. The caps are rusty. I
decided to drink one anyway.
It's a pretty humbling experience to drink a beer that my father used to
drink, a beer that was probably bottled when I was 10 years old or so. I
popped the cap and didn't get a "poof" of carbonation, but of course I
wasn't expecting one. A little CO2 was apparent when I poured the black beer
into my glass, though, more than I expected. Protein sediment was evident in
the bottom of the bottle. The nose was full of sherry and raisin. The beer
tasted pretty much the same with a touch of chocolate and some oxidation to
it, but surprisingly little. Less, actually, than microbrews I have
purchased with only a few years on the shelf. I suspect that this beer was
actually damn fine stuff when it was available oh so many years ago. It's
really not bad now! Run out and grab a six!
Today, Narragansett Porter is contract brewed by Trinity Brewhouse in
Providence, Rhode Island. Narragansett claims it has a hefty 7% alcohol
content by volume though it did not seem that potent to me.
Narragansett Porter pours to an almost opaque black color with a
medium sized tan head formation and a lightly chocolaty nose. I'm getting a
touch of coffee, a bit of roasted malt character-but just a bit, and
certainly not as much as I'm looking for in a porter. The finish at least is
nicely balanced with a bit of roasted barley and hop bitterness (the brewer
rates this beer at 22 IBUs).
I will say this-Narragansett porter is quite easy to drink, and I enjoyed as
much for nostalgic purposes as hedonistic ones. Still, I think it could use
more "oomphh"-a bit more body and flavor. I think Narragansett is modeling
this on the "old" 'Gansett porter, but at $8 a six-pack, that won't fly with
the competition available today. A good beer for sipping during a Pats or
Sox game perhaps and worthy of 3.5 stars, but not a great one. I much prefer
their exceptional Bock myself.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
