Pic(k) of the Week: A porter at the brewhouse.

This is the glorious, raisiny, chocolatey St. Charles Porter (without either of those ingredients added or needed) of Blackstone Brewing, in Nashville, Tennessee.

• Original Gravity (OG): 1.056
• International Bittering Units (IBUs): 34
• Color: 26 Lovibond
• Alcohol-by-volume (abv): 5.8%
• Hops: Centennial, Willamette.
• Malts: 2-row pale, Crystal 60L, Belgian Special B, Chocolate malt, Flaked barley.
• Yeast: Ballantine Ale (Chico)

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If you were learning to brew-at-home in the U.S. back in 1988, you probably were an acolyte of one of two how-to-brew gurus: nuclear engineer Charlie Papazian or English teacher Dave Miller. Although I began with the former, I decamped to the latter, who, that year, had published "The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing."

Three years later, Mr. Miller turned pro, the first brewer for Schlafly Brewing in St. Louis. In the mid-1990s, he moved to Nashville, Tennesse to open Blackstone Brewing, that city's first 'craft' brewery.

Mr. Miller continued brewing at Blackstone until only a few years ago. A co-proprietor, he still returns autumnally to brew the brewery's Oktoberfest. Blackstone downsized recently, closing its brewpub, but it has maintained its large production facility, with a public taproom and a permanently visiting food truck.

Three decades ago, it was Mr. Miller's recipe and procedure for brewing Porter that hooked me on the craft. Today, Blackstone brews its award-winning St. Charles Porter, to Miller's recipe.

In early February 2018, I visited Nashville for a few days. I didn't meet Dave Miller while there, but I did meet his beer. It may have taken me thirty years, but, at long last, I was to taste his porter. At his brewery. In his taproom. On draft. Words in a book became real. Glorious.

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• Recipe recreated by The Lost Beers ("Home brew recipes from breweries old and new and current brewery news updates."). The website also has a short biography of Mr. Miller.
• A few more photos from my visit to Blackstone: here.
• Th photo of Mr. Miller, above, via Nashville Beer Geek. All rights reserved.
• This post originally appeared on YFGF's Facebook page, albeit in soemwhat different fashion.
• Read other beer reviews from YFGF: Drinking, again!


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of photos taken (or noted) by me, posted on Saturdays, and often, but not always, with a good fermentable as the subject.
• See the photo on Flickr: here.
• Camera: Olympus Pen E-PL1.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


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