Greenport Harbor Brewing is playing with my head. They have my highest-rated porter, which is their seasonal pumpkin ale, and now that I’ve tried their Black Duck Porter, I’m ready to declare it my highest-rated craft stout. Labeling a porter as an ale and a stout as a porter! Do they plan to come out with something darker than the Black Duck?

It’s a tough life. Melba captures us in our dimly lit struggle to eat flour-less chocolate cake and drink *Black Duck Porter.*

Black Duck Porter is a rich, dark stout, in the Murphy’s vein. It has pleasant chocolate and coffee notes, and a nutty, smoky malted flavor, with just a touch of bitterness. I’ve tried a couple of other craft stouts and they usually don’t get the smoothness that Greenport Harbor has in the Black Duck. It’s very smooth. There’s a smokiness that lingers on the finish, and the glass that I had during the tasting at Horace & Silvia’s was finished too soon. Luckily, Melba was not a fan—she’s not a fan of stouts in general—so I got a second chance to make sure that this was the best craft stout I’ve ever had.

It was. I may be unemployed, but I have the best job.