Burning Brothers Brewing Black Pepper Porter

Black Pepper Porter Brewed By Burning Brothers

Dedicated Gluten Free Porter

I am tasting a gluten free porter from Burning Brothers Brewing today, the Black Pepper Porter. Burning Brothers is a dedicated gluten free brewery in St. Paul Minnesota. They have a fantastic line of truly gluten free beers that are quite the rarity in the midwest.

I usually feel pretty neutral about porters. When choosing between dark beers, I will opt for a stout 100% of the time. Generally speaking, porters tend to be a bit too smooth for me. But since I have been inundating you with seasonal and year-round stouts for the last two months (Ha!) I think it’s time we showed the gluten free porter style a little love.

Luckily I got my hands on this black pepper beauty to help keep things equal. This gluten free porter is brewed with sorghum, millet, buckwheat, and cracked black peppercorns. It has a 6% ABV and is packaged in 16 ounce cans. Check out the beer pour below…

The Taste Test

Black Pepper Porter

The Black Pepper Porter pours a with a luscious chocolate brown color and the most decadent head. When you hold the glass up to the light, this porter turns a reddish-purple around the edges of the glass, but that’s about all you get for light transparency.

The visual presentation of this porter is sexy AF guys. The head is beautiful. It has that fine-foam espresso-snow drift quality, and the longer it sits next to me undisturbed, the finer the foam becomes as the head shows no sign of disappearing.

I just love it when the head is off-white and creamy. It provides such an appealing sight when juxtaposed against the silky brown porter. The aroma is not particularly powerful for me yet as the head has me blocked a bit, but I can already smell the chocolate notes hiding below the surface. 

A good 10-15 minutes later…and the head still frosts the top of the glass so I decide to dive in and earn my first-in-awhile gluten free beer mustache. The porter is bright, chocolatey and presents the perfect amount of warmth from the pepper to make you feel like you’re cozied up next to a fire with a pint of ice cream and this silky smooth porter. 

The body of the beer is medium full, the taste is balanced and smooth, and the mouthfeel is creamy and soft. When the Black Pepper Porter first hits your lips, you’re met with the frothy texture of the head followed by a mouthful of hops and chocolate. The black pepper brings a subtle warmth to the whole tasting experience and never quite builds beyond a supportive and unobtrusive spice in the background.

The texture and visual appearance is my favorite part. Even halfway through the beer, the cream colored frosting of foam at the top of the glass lives on. The mouthfeel resembles milk chocolate with a flavorful hint of coffee and dark fruit. There’s just enough bitterness left behind to gently coat the mouth, and offer the porter a somewhat dry finish. As the beer warms, more dark roast qualities surface in the flavor. 

I have to say…as I supreme stout lover—I often shrug at porters. But this porter…this is my jam. The spiciness from the pepper provides just enough heat to balance the softer porter qualities, keeping things interesting—yet silky smooth. 

Over time the black pepper slowly builds on the palate offering the most wonderful warmth during the entire tasting experience. Possibly my new favorite from Burning Brothers Brewing. It’s between this and the Auntie M’s Irish Red Ale of theirs, which I also adore. 

Cheers!

P.S. Like what I do for the gluten free beer community? Consider buying me a beer for my efforts! ;)