A tribute to the Smoke Jumpers

This bottle of Smoke Jumper has been sitting in my beer fridge since well before Christmas so I cracked it open recently. I discovered I have another bottle too in my cellar so I mist have bought one bottle and forgot about it. Not to worry, Left Hand makes some excellent beers and this is no exception and one I am glad to have a second bottle to try. The aroma as you might expect, is full of smoke. It pretty much smells like smoked bacon but it's not in your face or out of place, it just seems to belong. There is also a fair bit of prune, chocolate and a little coffee. This is a porter after all.

Everything in the aroma is present in when you taste the beer, perhaps a little ash tray makes itself known. The carbonation is a little too lively for what I like in a porter but other than that, it's spot on and it's pretty typical of an American porter.

I wish I had noticed the second bottle in my cellar (cupboard), it might have been better to open that one instead of a cold one from the fridge. I did let it warm a little but it never got near room temp. A lovely beer and if I pick up anything else when drinking the second bottle, I will be sure to at least try and remember to update this article. I reckon this will go very well with certain types of cheeses. Maybe Steve Lamond will suggest something for me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the train station and meet up with TheBeerNut and others from Beoir. We're off to Cork for the day for the Winter Ales and Cask festival at the Franciscan Well, the first beer festival of the year! It's great to be able to say that because I remember when there were no beer festivals in Ireland and it was not too many years ago either.