Atwater Vanilla Java Porter

Brewed by Atwater Block Brewery
Style: Porter
Detroit, Michigan USA

Pours a pitch black with a medium sized light brown head. Aroma dominated by cocoa and powdered chocolate. Taste of cocoa powder, chocolate and vanilla roasted beans.

Sample at the Hopsnobbery Collective Porter tasting on 12/4/08: The beer is nearly opaque black with a thin beige head that dissipates quickly. Spotty lacing on the glass. Minimal aroma of vanilla and jalapeno. Thin body with a flavor not unlike a few chili peppers, coffee grounds and vanilla extract blended in a garbage disposal. The finish is weak cardboard and coffee. What happened here.

tastes like an average porter cant taste the vanilla or the java very light chocolate notes an average beer

(bottle - 12 oz) Black pour with a puffy tan head and great lacing. Aroma is a nice mix of coffee, chocolate, molasses, vanilla, and cream. The vanilla smells like good, real vanilla. Not imitation. Flavor is a major letdown. Instead of the wonderfully creamy flavor that I thought I would get from the aroma, instead the flavor tasted like watered down coffee grinds mixed with some burnt malts and a little chocolate. The vanilla had completely disappeared from the flavor and all I tasted was coffee. Not bad, but it was very watery and thin.

12oz btl. Pours a good dark black. Not a strong aroma but has a sweet sugar and a definate roastiness with a slight vanilla. Flavor is the same kinda coffe roasty taste with some chicory as well. Didn’t get much vanilla out of it, but its slightly sweet. Real light mouthfeel and not as heavy as it looks. Not as good as i hoped.

12 oz., cola in appearance, minimal head and lacing. Aroma of A1 steak sauce, old leather, something sour, and metal. Flavors... salt, soy sauce, fruit that’s past its prime. A little bit of coffee, but sort of stale, as though drinking stuff Monday that was left in the pot from Friday. Watery. Coffee and vanilla flavors kind of lost in translation somewhere. Here’s what the lady said: With this beer, I thought of my dad barbecuing shish-kabobs on the deck in the backyard. And then I got a flashback of two weeks ago... fiance and I were hiking on the Appalachian Trail and upon coming into a town and, happening upon a Kroger, I had the most satisfying bag of vinegar and salt chips.

It pours black. It’s a rather flat beer. No head, no lacing and the carbonation was very minimal. Light coffee flavor, but not much of anything else. Name sounded great but ended up being a real disappointment.

Bottle. Clear dark brown with a quickly dissipating tan head and no lacing. Very weak aroma of bittersweet chocolate and roasted malt. Flavor takes a back seat to the watery texture but there is some smoke and roasted malt in there. Still looking for the vanilla and coffee only appears in the form of chocolate covered coffee beans as the beer warms. Smooth but unremarkable finish.