Understated amber-cleared ‘white porter’ (a traditional Mardi Gras treat) places vanilla-spiced subtleties alongside delicate orange peel sweetness and mellow cocoa-nibbed pecan toasting, but fizzy phenol astringency brings unwanted alkalinity to upset its maple syrupy pancake battering. Almost dupes a brown-sugared, cinnamon-spiced Sticky Buns or Churro snack.
Politely creamed vanilla sugaring gains toffee-spiced brown chocolate sweetness and Blackstrap molasses coffee tones above mild hop-charred pine tarring for efficiently integrated dark ale.
Fudgy toffee molasses frontage and vanilla-creamed chocolate roast ambitiously knocks off Pennsylvania Dutch shoo-fly pie dessert. Creamy mocha vanilla continuance gains dark-roast hop char that brings mild astringency to the backend.
Expressively full-bodied porter brings creamy vanilla enchantment to espresso-milked ground coffee bittering. But soon, roasted coffee distinction overwhelms any discernible vanilla beaning. Way below the surface, caramelized toffee sugaring smothered by Blackstrap molasses, tobacco chaw and charred walnut bittering to its recessive oats-malted base.
Rich porter infused with vanilla beans gains moderate coffee roast, milk chocolate creaming and hot cocoa reminder. Fine mocha vanilla blend.
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, mildly creamed vanilla bean influence sweetens chalky chocolate-cocoa malting and mild nuttiness. Light-roast coffee bittering, chocolate custard pudding crusting and burnt caramel sugaring increase milky chocolate-vanilla theme.
Bourbon-barreled oak staves provide only meager influence upon bittersweet vanilla bean scheme. Fudgy dark chocolate sweetness slowly depletes most of the vanilla adjunct as musky Blackstrap molasses leathering and sharp hop phenols embitter the back end. Latent hickory-burnt charcoal singe relegates coffee, cocoa and espresso undertones in busy mix.
On tap at Plank Pizza, creamy brown chocolate sweetness and rich Madagascar vanilla beaning create mighty fine full-bodied porter. Sugary cookie dough center contrasts mild earthen peat bottom as tertiary black cherry, raspberry and strawberry whims increase serenity of chocolate-vanilla dessert treat.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, well-done Snickerdoodle cookie re-creation brings cinnamon-sugared vanilla sweetness to black chocolate malting. Light anise, cumin and nutmeg seasoning contrasts hazelnut-smoked wood char underneath. Fine as sweet-toothed medium body dessert.
On tap at Dog & Cask, easygoing brown porter needs more pronounced cinnamon spicing and vanilla bean licks to infiltrate molasses-smoked black chocolate base (first used in Happy Buck’n Anniversary Imperial Porter). Dank hop roast dissipates toasted coconut, marshmallow and coffee subsidies.
Engaging offshoot of similarly mocha-malted DLF Brown Ale relies on tantalizing vanilla bean creaming and sweet bourbon overtones instead of caramelized coconut. Syrupy molasses sapping drapes dark-roasted mocha malting, fudgy milk chocolate froth and sugared coffee retreat. But its the rich vanilla presence that lingers loudest over tarry hop oils by the seductively noirish finish.
Better updated version (2013) loads creamy French vanilla bean roast and lovely milked coffee sedation into caramel-burnt hop char. Fudgy black chocolate midst contrasts raw molasses bittering and wavered black pepper snip. Latent cappuccino hints abound. 2019 version let mildly creamed cocoa-dried vanilla bean bittering hover alongside cedar-seared Blackstrap molasses hop char, but minor phenol aridity beckons.
