Atwater Vanilla Java Porter

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

Picked up a single 12-oz bottle from Flanagan’s Liquors in Appleton, Wisconsin. Pours a near opaque dark brown brew with a thin tan head that slowly dissipates to a thin creamy head and some spotty lacing ring. Aroma of toasted dark malts, a touch of vanilla, chocolate and some coffee. Taste is semi-sweet, light carbonated with flavors of roasted dark malt, chocolate and just a touch of vanilla beans. Finish has a nice balance of vanilla and roasted dark malt that slowly disappears to a mild vanilla aftertaste.

(Bottle from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/massachusetts/w target=blank>Julio’s Liquors) Pours very dark brown with four fingers of tan head. Aroma of coffee, dark chocolate, perhaps light vanilla. Mouthfeel is smooth, nearly creamy, but a bit thin. Flavor is coffee and very light chocolate. Vanilla is barely detectable. Light bitterness overlays and provides a little pinch through the finish.

A nice vanilla aroma and flavor to begin, then finishes like a vanilla soda, almost rootbeer with a hint of vanilla. A very interesting and unique combination. I detected very little coffee flavor; more towards the vanilla, which was surprisingly not overpowering.

Pour is black with a fast fading med-sized tan head. Aroma is dominated by coffee, the malt and vanilla are present, but very subtle. In the taste, the malts are mild, and the coffee is watery tasting at best which makes the whole beer lighter then I wanted it to be. The vanilla is not to strong, it is a good highlight. The finish is slow and lingering. The carbonation is a bit too much for my taste too. This is a good beer, but it could have been a great beer.

Pours black with a tan, moderate, fine head. Aroma is coffee and vanilla. Flavor is coffee, vanilla, and chocolate. Very good Vanilla Porter in my opinion. Rivals that of Breckenridge’s Vanilla Porter.

Dark color. Smell of hops, sugar, malt, coffee and minor vanilla beans. Vanilla more dominant when the beer warms. Taste of roasted coffee, malt, coco and vanilla.

This was strange and strangely unpleasant. Nose of metallic artificial vanilla. Taste of vanilla, artificial vanilla, and lemonade ... sweet and sour powdered lemonade. Thin in the mouth ... no malt, no body. Just strange.

Had on tap. A dark black color in the glass. As expected, java was the main aroma for this beer. Taste was of dark roasted coffee which was followed by the vanilla sweetness. Hip of hops was noted in the finish. The beer lived up to its name with the vanilla and the java taste.