Nothing says Christmas or snow to me like a good porter. A good porter is hard to find, but when you do the taste is sublime. Today's effort is too difficult to pronounce, but it's from Wisconsin. It pours a very dark brown with a thin head that has a hint of red to it. The aroma has none of the vanilla that it touts on the bottle, but it does have a nice helping of smokey malt all in there. It smells very distinctly sweet, as well.
First sip is a pretty good one. It's got heaps of smoke, a bit of coffee, and even some dark chocolate hidden in there. A sip, however, doesn't bring forth any of the vanilla that the bottle screams about. I'm not sure that's entirely bad. I mean, I'm not sure that it needs the vanilla to come out. It's a pretty good beer right from the first sip. As I said, I do enjoy a good porter.
Time for a holiday swig.
That smoke is unrelenting. It takes over the tip-in with a bit of carbonation at the tip of the tongue. The sweet malt dominates the middle, and it's a pretty good malt. Then the finish comes on with the coffee and chocolate and their bitterness. The bitterness is cut pretty well by the sweet malt, and the trailing taste is cut with more smoke.
The beer is a good one. I haven't really let it warm up much, but I can tell that it's getting better with the warmth. I don't think I'll let it get too warm, though, as it will likely start to turn too bitter as it heats up.
3.75/5