On tap at Plank Pizza, robust dry stout loads creamy black chocolate richness and espresso-milked cocoa chalking atop oats-roasted burnt caramel sweetness to contrast hop-charred wood resin. Ancillary chocolate truffle, light-roast coffee, fudgy vanilla, black cherry, molasses, cola nut and hazelnut illusions complete the score.
Metaphorical fire breathing dragon brings firey habanero peppering to smoky mocha malting and oak-charred oily hop linger, tailing off as molasses-smoked black chocolate, bitter dark-roasted coffee and dry chalky cocoa drown out the finishing chili heat. Below the surface, black cherry respite and wispy cola nuttiness waver.
On tap at Plank Pizza, dry porter brings lightly creamed dark-roasted coffee and black chocolate malting to the fore. Subtle black licorice resonance settles below alongside blackened hop bittering. In a can, black-malted dark chocolate musk and dried cocoa subsidy gain musty hop char and seared walnut-cola niche at mocha molasses finish.
Rich dry-bodied porter brings chewy black-malted Madagascar vanilla bean thickness to syrupy molasses-sapped dark chocolate, lightly pungent Ghana cacao nibs, day-old coffee souring, resinous hop char and earthen musk. Smooth mineral water crisping galvanizes velvety mocha finish.
On tap at Craft House, laid-back coffee roast greets cocoa-chalked black chocolate malting and lightly hop-charred oak bittering as well as wispy black cherry tartness. Ashen mocha finish needs richer creaminess to resonate better.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, rich honey porter soaked in Brinley Gold Shipwreck rum barrels succeeds at re-creating brown-sugared Bananas Foster dessert embittered and emboldened by blackened hop char. Black chocolate roast overrides rummy Kahlua warmth, vanilla-spiced molasses syruping, pungent coffee bittering, toasted pumpernickel retreat, black licorice waft and wildflower-honeyed floral bouquet at bustling finish.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, rich pecan-pied 2015 porter brings cold-brewed coffee smoothness to nutty brown-sugared caramel malting. Roasted pecan adjunct fades as black chocolate, black cherry, vanilla, molasses and cacao nibs undertones ascend alongside oats-charred walnut and honey-sweetened hazelnut illusions.
Standard dry porter offers clean-watered black malt crisping to lightly wood-smoked chicory coffee bittering and nutty soy remnant. Dark chocolate, molasses and cocoa undertones need deeper resonance to rise above.
Satisfying mocha-dominant brown ale in a can brings cold-pressed Guatemalan coffee roast to oily hop resin, oats-dried pale malting and mild earthen nuttiness. Reminiscent of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, perhaps, its creamy cappuccino snip and dark chocolate smidge sufficiently reinforce the day-old bitter java finish.
Decisive medium-bodied dark lager brings sweet tobacco-roasted carafa malting to smoky Blackstrap molasses bittering, dry hop-charred singe and cocoa-dried coffee slumber. Cola, hazelnut and walnut illusions swim alongside rice-browned mocha-like splendor in the midst.
Spry full-bodied ‘pure brewed’ lager with initial lemon spritz giving way to flowery-hopped peach seduction. Crisp barley-toasted malting elevates soft biscuit spine. Well balanced from firm-headed golden hue to taut nut finish. Stolid bitter pungency isn’t far removed from German beers such as Beck’s or Dinkelacker (or Holland’s Grolsch, for that matter).
Whether using updated recipe or just tweaking mocha ingredients, Zywiec’s newer labeled ’1881′ version of dry Porter offers tarry black patent malt bittering to sugar-milked coffee sedation, cedar-charred pumpernickel breading, black licorice respite, wispy whiskey nip and soy-sauced raw molasses, picking up mild burnt caramel sweetness by the finish.
