Darktober 15: Mocha Porter

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Rogue Ales
Location: Newport, Oregon
Type: American Porter
ABV: 5.1%

Welcome,denizens, to a new week of my continuing exploration into the darkest depths of our beer-heavy refrigerator. Welcome to Darktober, Week 3.

First, this week’s theme: I realized in my latest batch of purchases that I had a group of beers that trailed a relatively nice path from one coast of the United States to the other (minus one or two…or most states, of course). So this week and part of next will be dedicated to making the journey across the country, one randomly located beer at a time.

We start on the West Coast with today’s beer. In my last review, I sort of took some potshots at the “King of Beers,” for being a producer of blandly ubiquitous mega-beer offerings. Are there such breweries in the craft beer business? By no means are there any on the same mass-produced level as an Anheuser-Busch product, but there are definitely several instantly recognizable brands within the craft beer fandom. I would point to today’s brewery as evidence to support this fact.

Oregon’s Rogue Ales brewery has been around since 1988, churning out an enviably large array of beers into the craft market. They were definitely one of the earliest craft brewers I remember noticing as my interest in beer began to grow. It’s kind of difficult to miss their legion of 750 ml bottles, all bedecked with the single-star Rogue logo and similarly posed caricatures, fisting the air with inebriated enthusiasm.

[Loba Tangent: From an artistic standpoint, I’ve always found these caricatures a little off-putting. The heads rarely look proportionate to the bodies, which give me a bit of a no feeling whenever I look at them. Does this impact the taste of the beer though? No, not really. Just something I felt the need to whiny hate about.]

A couple of key ways in which Rogue differs from a mainstream monster like Anheuser-Busch: They produce an impressive and constantly updating array of types and flavors, showing that they are not in any way trying to rest on their laurels. They also sometimes come out with rather odd or just downright crazy flavors, to show that they have no intention of losing their edge. The latest example to which I can point is, of course, their team-up with equally famous Oregon staple, Voodoo Doughnut, for their Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Some of you might have even heard me babble about these pink-bottled beauties, shown here:

Some of you may have even been turned into my personal taster guinea pigs on this adventure 🙂 My final thoughts on this particular brew, if you’ll indulge me with this mini review, is as follows:

Definitely way more bacon-y than I was expecting it to be. I’ve had other bacon-based products (bacon latte?!? YES PLEASE) that sort of copped out on the bacon level. Rogue definitely did not do this. Bacon all the way through, almost to the point of drowning out the maple syrup flavor, which really didn’t hit you until the very end. Almost like an afterthought, really.

I definitely would have liked this beer more if there had been more of a balance to the two flavors. As it was, it was just a little bit too much bacon. I’d read reviews that compared this beer to drinking bacon grease. It’s not *that* bad, but it’s also not something that I would want to drink on a regular basis. Definitely a limited-release experience to be shared. Watching everyone’s reactions was probably more fun than the actual tasting 🙂

In some ways, their more daring offerings remind me a bit of the daring behind Dogfish Head’s always intriguing line-up. Beyond their crazy flavor ideas and their eye-catching bottle designs, however, my general reaction to Rogue’s mainstay beers is probably what’s fueling my mental comparison to a large-scale bland beer maker. My reaction, to be blunt, is typically meh. Their standard brews, to me, taste rather subdued and “one-note.” And so it went with my first taste of their Mocha Porter.

Rather flat and practically headless, even with my ongoing attempts at more vigorous pouring, this leather-tinted brew presented a uniform blandness: Both the nose and the taste were decidedly singular in their similarity to the smell and taste of a strong cup of coffee. The disappointment of this fact doesn’t even really stem from how one flavor overpowers anything else. It’s the fact that the “strong” coffee notes weren’t indicative of a fresh, properly made cup of joe. More like a cup left for a few hours on the burner before finally poured. Bitter, acidic, and burnt, with an aftertaste like the last cup of coffee from the office carafe (you know the one…the cup that sat in the pot for HOURS because no one wanted to be the one to pour it and then have to make a fresh pot).

Because of the impressive number of beers that Rogue is able to offer, I can’t say that my personal impression of them is in any way all-encompassing. Truth is, I’ve only tried about eight of their different flavors, and I remember that a couple (Hazelnut Brown Nectar and Chocolate Stout) were quite enjoyable. However, my general impression is such that they would more than likely only be my “preferred choice” if they happened to be the only dark brew on tap that night. Similarly, I will tend to pass right by their section when perusing liquor store shelves for new taste experiences (minus when they produce something in a saucy pink Pepto Bismol bottle stamped with the words BACON MAPLE and DOUGHNUT).

Bottom line is this: According to industry estimates quoted by the ever-reliable Wikipedia oracle, Oregon is home to the nation’s fourth largest tally of craft breweries. Whether or not this is actually true, the list of craft breweries generated by a search on craftbeer.com generated a hella amazing list. Rogue is just one of many that Oregon has to offer. I’m not saying that it’s not worth it to give Rogue a go. Only you can figure out what suits your palate best. Don’t be fooled by ubiquity though. Just because it’s everywhere, doesn’t mean it’s the best. Look at how many Starbucks and McDonald’s are out there…

Darktober 13: Dark Truth Stout

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Boulevard Brewing Company
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Type: American Double/Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.7%

What, might you ask, is the Dark Truth of this particular beer?

It is the truth that beer of character, complexity, quality, and flavor is not brought to you by Clydesdales.

Okay, I’m obviously ripping on Anheuser-Busch right now, which is kind of like kicking a three-legged puppy, since they’re probably still reeling from their acquisition by InBev. Honestly, even I was a bit stunned by that, and I’m by no means a fan of their products. Still, they kind of do meet the criteria of “American Institution,” having been doing the brewing since 1852

Darktober 12: Boxcar Pumpkin Porter

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Starr Hill Brewing Company
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Type: English Porter
ABV: 5.2%

Time to end our work-inspired travel tour and bring it back home for this week’s seasonal brew. Remember how I said, in my review of Dark Starr Stout, that Starr Hill would be making a return appearance this Darktober? Welcome to the return: Boxcar Pumpkin Porter.

Warm autumnal scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and allspice over the pungent trace of star anise rise from the depths of this midnight-tinted brew. The taste, however, is…incongruous.

Boxcar dropkicks your palate with a full-frontal bitter blast. It’s actually quite jarring, especially considering the “comfort food” nose that precedes it. You wouldn’t be wrong to expect a rush of flavors reminiscent of a warm slice of fresh pumpkin pie.

Instead, this porter’s flavor is more like the truest essence of cooked pumpkin

Darktober 11: St. Charles Porter and Nut Brown Ale

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Type: American Porter and English Brown Ale
ABV: 5.8% and 5.6%

Well, that’s a sad photo to the right, isn’t it? Empty pint glass for a beer review? What gives, Loba?

Here’s the thing: First, yes, I am reviewing two beers in one review, but, no, I don’t actually have the beers in my possession at the moment. Keeping with this week’s theme of reviewing beers that I have discovered during various work-related trips, these two beers were my most recent happy discoveries from my latest travels.

A whirlwind assignment found me on my very first journey to Nashville, Tennessee. I know very little about Nashville. It’s the home of country music. It’s not where Elvis lived. It’s not where Elvis died. There is, however, a cupcake place that makes Elvis-inspired cupcakes. Bet you can guess the flavor.

I was only there for a day, and most of the time was reserved for work, so I knew that I wasn’t really going to see anything of Nashville beyond the hotel and where I needed to report. But I knew…I knew I had to have some barbecue. One does not go to Tennessee without at least trying to find some tasty charred meat.

Thanks to the hotel’s free wi-fi and some snooping around on Yelp, I found a place in walking distance that not only fulfilled this requirement but also presented me with the unexpected joy of being a craft brewery as well!

Excellent.

Blackstone’s is a lovely little place, not quite small enough to be considered a “neighborhood dive” but not close enough to the downtown hustle to be considered a big contender. It’s kind of tucked away in a part of town that looks like it might have seen better times. Then again, Blackstone’s looks like it might have seen better times as well. Not to say that it looked run down or lacking in curbside appeal. It’s a tidy, decent-sized place, equal parts sports bar, restaurant, and brewery, but both times we went there (yes, I said both times) there weren’t a whole lot of people there. Maybe it was just off times. Is Sunday evening an off time for restaurants? Monday afternoon? I don’t know.

It’s a shame, though, because I had two exquisite experiences here. Both days, we had the same waitress (I think her name was Anna, but I could be incorrect on that one). She remembered us the second day, was incredibly congenial, chatty but by no means annoyingly so, very attentive, and just really excellent at taking care of us. This included making sure we got ample opportunities to try several of the beers on tap.

Obviously, I treated myself to Blackstone’s two darkest offerings. However, I did give their Chaser Pale Ale a chaser of a chance and was incredibly surprised by how delicious it was. Brewed in the German Kolsch style, it was a bright perfect balance between honey smooth and citrusy sweet, with just the slightest hint of a hoppy tingle.

On to the main attractions. My first choice from Blackstone’s tap lineup was their St. Charles Porter. It had to be done, since I was also ordering a half slab of their baby back ribs, cooked in said dark brew. What a delicious pairing! This porter sidesteps saccharine pitfalls while delivering clean dry porter flavors of dark chocolate, chicory, espresso, and subtle smokiness, making it a perfect accompaniment for Blackstone’s sweet and savory ribs and their fall-off-the-bone barbecue goodness.

P.S.: Blackstone’s ribs are nothing short of miraculous.

For dessert, I opted for their Nut Brown Ale (it says right here it’s a dessert wine beer!). A gorgeous golden cherry in contrast to the somber mahogany of St. Charles Porter, it still holds its own in flavor, with notes of caramel and a savory sweetness like molasses on toast. Both beers are incredibly easy on the palate, making it quite easy to wile away several pre-flight hours chatting and enjoying such other wonderful (and immensely beer-friendly) brewpub offerings as wood-fired oven-baked pretzels and succulent steak and biscuits au jus.

(Remember, I did state that I went here twice, denizens.)

I loved these beers and the overall Blackstone experience so much that I decided to commemorate the occasion with my very first beer-centric pint glass ever purchased. How’s that for praise?

Draft suits both these brews quite well, but I do wonder what they taste like from the bottle. For scientific reasons only, of course. Hopefully, Blackstone will reach this far north and I will get my chance to continue my very relevant research. And hopefully, one day I’ll get a chance to return to Blackstone’s brewpub. If I could have packed this place up in my carry-on and toted it home with me, I would have. Lovely digs, awesome waitress, delicious food, and wonderful brews always flowing from their taps.

Darktober 10: Blackened Voodoo Lager

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Dixie Brewing Company (currently brewed by Joseph Huber Brewing Company)
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana (currently Monroe, Wisconsin)
Type: Schwarzbier
ABV: 5%

Many, many moons ago, my very first official business trip took me to the Big Easy, itself: New Orleans. It’s been a love-love relationship ever since. In fact, I do believe that New Orleans holds pride of place as my favorite visited U.S. city to date (San Francisco is close on its heels, but still so very far away). I’ve been there three times now. If I was given the chance right now to go again, this entry would be left unfinished at this very line.

I’ve already tried to capture my feelings about this beautiful city (and only come marginally close). I won’t try again. At least not for this review. Instead, I’d like to introduce you to the very first Nawlins beer I ever had: Dixie’s Blackened Voodoo Lager.

It was my first night in the Big Easy and I was itching to try it all

Darktober 9: KoKo Brown

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Kona Brewing Company
Location: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Type: American Brown Ale
ABV: 5.5%

Ah, Hawaii. It’s such a lovely place and takes such a long time to reach from the East Coast, that I’ve decided to stay a little bit longer. You don’t mind, right?

I’ve also decided to stick with a coconut theme, since it’s such a delightful notion to me, this coconut and beer combination. I’m typically not a big fan of fruit-flavored beers, liking only a select number from the ones I have tried. This, however, works for me, for some completely strange reason. Guess that’s why I was so willing to give another coconut beer a try. This time we’re going from porter to ale with Kona Brewing Company’s KoKo Brown.

Cinnamon oak colors catch light easily through a diaphanous gilding of ecru foam. This is not a heavily carbonated beer by any means. It also possesses a predominantly coconut nose, a strong indication that this time around, coconut will not be sharing its screen time.

To this end, KoKo Brown is a far more divisive flavor than yesterday’s CoCoNuT PorTeR, because it possesses a far more distinct coconut flavor. Whereas yesterday’s brew mixes its toasted coconut with those tried-and-true porter flavors in a practically perfect elixir of cheer, KoKo Brown showcases its coconut center stage. You can smell it in each waft, taste it in each sip, detect it long after the last swallow slips into memory only. For these reasons, I suspect that many will not even consider this as a future beer option. No worries. More for me 😉

I’d like to point out at this point that what I’m tasting in this particular bottle of KoKo Brown is different from what I’ve tasted in previous exposures to this beer. This ale came from my (admittedly small) collection of beers currently being bottle-aged. True, this was a relatively young selection; I’d only been aging it for about a year. However, I can tell you that it was showing delightful progress. One of the things that I noticed when I first tried KoKo Brown was the surprisingly muted status of the flavors. A year served to embolden those flavors, giving this ale a much fuller body and a lush tropical flavor profile.

Actually, this experience has made me once more mourn the fact that Maui Brewing only uses cans for their beers. I can only imagine how amazing a well-aged CoCoNut PorTeR could taste. Diabolically delicious, I’m sure.

Oh, and in case you’re curious about what I’m blathering on about with this whole “bottle aging” hoo ha, here’s a little extra reading material on the subject.

All in all, this is another beer I’m very happy to have discovered, from a decidedly impressive brewer. Even if you choose not to try their KoKo Brown, I’d invite you to give some of their other offerings a try, including their Longboard Lager and an amazing seasonal offering called Pipeline Porter. It’s brewed with Kona coffee. Do I really need to say any more?

And thus the sun descends upon our final moments with Hawaii’s coconut beer offerings. Aloha, denizens, until our next beery destination.

Darktober 8: CoCoNut PorTeR

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Maui Brewing Co.
Location: Lahaina, Hawaii
Type: American Porter
ABV: 6%

Aloha and mahalo for joining me for another week of Darktober!

Why the Hawaiian speak, you might wonder? It fits in with this week’s theme: Work Travel Beers.

I love to travel, and I have been incredibly lucky these past few years to visit some amazing places throughout my own home country, thanks to my job.

Admittedly, most of the time I’m so slammed with work while in these locales that I don’t ever really get the chance to see anything more of that area beyond the hotel in which I’m working for that particular event. However, on luckier excursions, I get to see more and experience more. Maybe even sneak in a brew or two. Those happy discoveries are what will be featured this week, starting with…Maui Brewing Company’s CoCoNuT PorTeR.

For my own sanity, I’m only going to write the name like it’s printed on the can one time. And, yes, I did just write “can.” You can see it right there in the photo. Some people contend that cans are better than bottles because they protect the beer from the elements better. Obviously, they’re superior in their ability to block out light. Beyond that, however?

I’m admittedly not a fan of this particular containment option. I think that beer allowed to settle too long in a can begins to take on the metallic overtones of its container. That might very well just be my own craziness going on, but, if I have to have my beer in any way other than on-tap, I’m going to go with bottle over can if possible.

Maui Brewing Company, however, only uses cans to contain their brews.Regardless of my personal opinions about this, I decided that I really needed to give Maui Brewing a go while in Honolulu, if only for the joy of ticking off Hawaii on that mental brewery map in my brain. I picked up a multipack of two beers each of their three primary offerings

Darktober 6: Dark Starr Stout

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Starr Hill Brewing Company
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Type: Irish Dry Stout
ABV: 4.2%

I made a promise to myself when I first decided that Saturdays would be reserved for stouts that I would not dub them “Stouturdays.” I’m sticking with that promise…but in a way that still gets out there yet further evidence of my addiction to portmanteaux.

For our first trip to stouter days (I’m sorry!), I’ve chosen Dark Starr Stout, from Charlottesville, Virginia’s Starr Hill Brewery. This is another relatively local brewery of which I’ve only just begun to take note. They’ve been operational since 1999, but since moving to newer, bigger digs in 2005, they’ve been slowly expanding out from their Blue Ridge-nestled comfort zone, to include Tennessee, both Carolinas, and finally Maryland.

I’ll give you a little hint of what’s to come: This won’t be the only Starr Hill appearance this month.

It is, however, my very first experience with their beers. Dark Starr, which looks to be their darkest year-round offering, is an Irish dry stout in the tradition of one of my very first dark loves: Guinness. Subsequently, it’s been a very long time since I had this type of stout, because it’s been a very long time since I drank a Guinness. Not since I ruined everything by drinking a Guinness fresh from the brewery. Nothing sold in this country with the name Guinness stamped on it can in any way compare, so I just gave up trying. I guess that it’s just too long a journey from Ireland to here for the beer to retain its fresher flavors, even with those silly plastic rockets or ping pong balls floating around in the container. Damn you, Guinness factory, for being so far away!

Anyway. So Dark Starr Stout. Burnished obsidian pour with a reserved yet lush head, and you’re immediately awash in vapors rich in roasty, toasty, malty, nutty decadence. It was such a satisfying bouquet that I paused for a moment just to inhale it a little longer than usual. Beautiful nose on this beer. Beautiful.

Then came the first sip. To me, a properly crafted stout should be like “Reveille” for your tongue’s platoon of bitter buds. Dark Starr hit every note with almost pitch-perfect accuracy. It’s not an aggressive stout, but it’s still striking in many ways: satisfying mouth feel and a cascade of pleasantly bitter flavors such as fresh black coffee, dark chocolate, pumpernickel toast. The finish is dry (as it should be) and leaves behind just the faintest trace of sweetness.

From start to finish, this stout did not disappoint. It also brought the familiar one-two punch that stouts always carry for me: a warm comforting heaviness in my stomach and an inescapable wave of “stout” sleepiness. As I said before, stouts are “meal” beers to me, and this one was a very satisfying serving. I’m quite elated to have finally tried this beer and look forward to my next Starr Hill experience.

Darktober 4: Duck-Rabbit Porter

~ lobablanca

Brewer: The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Location: Farmville, North Carolina
Type: American Porter
ABV: 5.7%

Zipping down the I-95 corridor a little ways from our last beer stop, we find ourselves in the quaint (read: so-small-you-might-miss-it) town of Farmville, North Carolina, home of The Duck-Rabbit, a microbrewery that’s been working its dark magic since 2004.

It’s an interesting little factoid about why the name and why the optical illusion for the logo. Prior to becoming a professional brewer, founder Paul Philippon was a philosophy professor. The philosophical nature of a similar duck-rabbit diagram from a favorite text continued to speak to him, even after he left that world. And so he decided to use the concept of the perspective of The Duck-Rabbit as a way to link his former and new lives.

Beyond the philosophical bent of the question, however: Why Duck-Rabbit? Because they’re “The Dark Beer Specialist,” of course. At least according to their label. Indeed, the lightest of their regularly produced beers is an amber ale. Beyond that, it’s all brown ales, porters, and stouts.

Definitely my kind of brewery.

I’ve previously had their milk stout in a bottle, and I had a chaser of their porter on tap with a beer flight I did at a North Carolina brewpub. I remember this porter was one of the standouts of that flight, so when I found a bottle of it this far north, I decided to give it a better opportunity to impress me.

The initial pour reminded me far less of a beer and more of a cola: swiftly forming head with a five-second soda pop fizzle that disappeared before I could even carry the glass and bottle over for their close-up. This is an incredibly carbonated beer, more so than I was expecting. Gives it a lightweight, burbling mouth feel and leaves you (or me, at least) feeling a little…well, let’s just say I could have given Barney on The Simpsons a run for his money after drinking this beer.

This porter carries with it the delightful coffee undercurrent I love about dark brews, plus there’s a scent of subtle sweetness each time you raise the glass for a drink.

The taste, itself, however, hits you in a way reminiscent of passing your tongue over the contacts of a nine-volt battery: electric jolt with a jarring metallic aftertaste. It’s not a terrible sensation, but it’s definitely much different from the fresh, mellow beer I had on tap the first time I tried this one.

I don’t think I’ve ever found a beer that tasted better from the bottle than from the tap (although I’ve had a a nice bottle-aged brew or two that could definitely put up a solid fight for the title), but I have definitely found beers that simply do not bottle well at all. This might be one of them. That’s fine with me though: Just means it will be one of those rare treats for when I’m lucky enough to find it on tap. Emphasis on rare, indeed, since Duck-Rabbit is only distributed in North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, Georgia, parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania (why they skipped Maryland in this sweep is a mystery to me…must have something to do with our lame state liquor laws…)