But I like this one as well. Great to see you doing some Carolina beers – I live in Chapel Hill (home to the Carolina Brewery and of course the Carolina Pale Ale … not their greatest beer in my opinion, but certainly still of good quality).

I don’t know the name, but Durham, NC now has a brewing company (Left Hand, maybe? Don’t know why that name is sticking in my head) that is producing some serious (and seriously expensive) high-quality small-batch beers. They will definitely be a bigger player in the coming years in NC local beers.

Two great (and rather large) microbreweries here in Chapel Hill give us a tiny taste of what it must be like to live in Oregon … ;)

It’s interesting that you described it as ‘restrained’. I wonder if that is because we are so used to the massive flavors of Imperial Oatmeal stouts, like the wonderful Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S., which is almost overwhelming in it’s flavor profile. One of the reasons I like this beer is because while all of the elements are there when compared with an oatmeal stout (with the additional slight bitterness that seems to be unique, and appropriate as a porter), it does not ‘insist upon itself’, to borrow a turn of phrase from ‘Family Guy’.

I won’t pretend to be able to pick out a porter versus a stout blind most days without my trusty BJCP app, but that slight hop bitterness is not something you get in the oatmeal stout beers I have had, where the sweetness of the oatmeal and the roastiness of the malts take over completely and the brewers seem to be going for a creamier mouthfeel. That is part of what I like about this porter ~ it certainly gives you the elements you are familiar with, but the additional bite of the finish make this a unique beer.