Review from Ireland: Porterhouse Brew Co.'s Oyster Stout!

Oyster Stout - from the Porterhouse Brewing Company.

Thanks to the planning and generosity of my cousin Joe McDonough, our family was recently able to spend a week in Galway, Ireland. While across the Atlantic, our familial band of adventurers explored the beautiful countryside and coast of Connemara. Many a warm hour was spent catching up with relatives, both at their homes and in the numerous pubs.

This being Ireland, I'm sure you're all wondering if I drank a barrel or two of Guinness. While trying Guinness in Ireland was certainly on the to-do list, my brew prospects reached far beyond. My goal was to sample and savor as many foreign beers as possible, especially those I'd never find back home. This culinary quest spanned from locally brewed craft ales to beer brought over from England and Germany. I could fill multiple entries on the range of flavors I tried, but for today I wanted to focus on one of the more usually entries.

I've drank plenty of beers that paired well with seafood. 
Rarer are the brews made with seafood.

 From across the isle and over to Dublin comes the Porterhouse Brewing Co.'s Oyster Stout.

You heard me correctly: a brew made with oysters added directly to the batch. It sounds bizarre, so of course I had to try it.

Note: Yes, this beer is made with actual shellfish, so avoid if you have any sort of allergy.

Picking up a bottle, I was amazed at the head-slappingly simple inclusion of a pull tab on the side of the cap. No bottle opener required. I know it sounds like a little detail, but being able to simply pop the cap off without hunting down an opener was damn convenient. I'm surprised domestic beers don't have this feature. Seems like a no-brainer.

But you didn't come for an essay on bottling mechanics. Let's get to the beer.

At the initial pour and sniff, Porterhouse Brew Co.'s Oyster Stout doesn't seem too different from any other high-quality entry in the style. It pours a lovely dark shade through which light shall not permeate. The scent is pleasant and roasty, full of chocolate and slight smoke notes.

The oysters come out later into the taste. If you're a fan of stouts, the initial sip will please you. The body is smooth and silky. Plenty of dark malt coats the tongue. As the flavor develops on the tongue, you'll quickly become aware of a fresh, mineral-like quality to the beer. There's no fish flavor to be had, so no worries there. Instead the oyster stout develops a very faint salt-like note at the end of each taste. Almost like a twinge of brine.

While this sounds odd, it actually works to amplify the malt and hops. Salt is, after all, a flavor enhancer. Apart from that, there's a certain freshness to the beer that evokes 'ocean' without tasting like low tide. Hard to describe, but you're acutely aware of the marine-aspect of the beer even though you're not tasting seafood. If you've ever eaten raw oysters, think of a the taste of the 'oyster liquor' that is left in the half-shell after you've slurped down the meat. Take that flavor, mellow it, and introduce it into a stout, and you'll have a good idea of the flavor profile here.

Now granted, when it comes to seafood, I'm biased. I love the ocean both in the exploratory and the culinary sense, so an oyster beer held genuine appeal for me. I found the Porterhouse Brew Co.'s Oyster Stout unique and pretty damn refreshing for a stout. Something about the slight mineral tang and salt kick kept the beer from getting overly heavy. Each sip tasted clean and fresh.

If you're feeling adventurous while overseas, I'd give this brew a shot. I'm not sure if the style will make its way over to the U.S., but if it does, I'll be picking some up.