Atwater Vanilla Java Porter

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

From bottle... poured very dark brown with very minimal head. Aroma was great! Exactly what I expected... coffee, vanilla, and hot chocolate. Tasted as expected too -- coffee with a touch of vanilla. The body was a bit light, but typical porter.

Peoria BeerFest. I enjoyed this a bit more than previous reviewers. Jet black pour, minimal head, and served a bit too cold at first. After warming up, it was a touch sweet, but overall it was an enjoyable mix of coffee and vanilla. More of a dessert beer, not something you could have more than one at a time. Not much in the way of any dark, roasted malt flavors like a typical porter, but still interesting.

Black with tan frothy slowly diminishing head. Aroma of over-roasted malts and chocolate. Overly carbonated. Tastes of chocolate with both tart and acidic qualities in the finish that lingers as a bad bitter mix that screams experiment gone wrong.

(bottle) Pours black with an off-white head. Aroma was offensive to say the least, with green olive taking over the entire aroma. Upon warming there is a strong scent of raisin and sugar, almost port like, but it’s still unpleasant. Further warming yields a little more roast. Taste is a little bit of roasted malt, with a short finish of vanilla and roast. Thin mouthfeel, borderline watery. Really this is just a mess of a beer.

Let this beer sit for a really long time before drinking.

[Bottle] Pours fairly dark brown with tan head. Aroma is very unpleasant when poured cold--plastic and, as Guerde pointed out, green olive. As it warmed it improved, with some vanilla, chocolate and coffee becoming noticeable. Taste is sour, then coffee and a little vanilla. Thin mouthfeel. Long finish...although that’s not necessarily a good thing here. I found this to be a fairly unpleasant mess that was borderline offensively bad. ...After letting this sit for about an hour and a half (because I was working on something else and hadn’t decided on if I wanted to pour it out or drink it) it actually became fairly drinkable. After letting it sit for this long I would probably give it in the high 2 range. I will average it out since a beer should not have to sit for nearly two hours before it becomes drinkable.

maybe it was my mistake to try this beer before a meal but the taste was just unsatisfactory I would recommend this beer only in a one time basis for someone looking to try something different

The bottle opened with a pleasing phhht, and poured with a less than a finger of head, but it was nice tight little bubbles of light brow, the beer was very dark. The air was instantly full of the aroma of coffee and prorter. With my nose over the glass I can smell very strong fresh coffee and a sweetness like a frozen cappuccino. The vanilla is a nice balance to the coffee aroma. The first taste was sweet cold fresh coffee again the vanilla was a nice balance that I was not expecting, followed by good porter. Smooth and dark in my mouth, coating my entire mouth with rich flavor, the CO2 gave the a good scrubbing as I swallowed and leaving me with a thirst for another sip. The aroma of the second sip was much more vanilla and porter. As I drank more aromas and flavors were presented like dark fruit. I could not pick out the hops but the bitterness let me know it was there just enough to give some balance. This is a sweet beer, my lips were almost sticky sweet after each sip.

Bottled. Poured clear iced tea brown with a huge cap of tan head. The aroma found sweet artificial vanilla and lighter roasted coffee beans.. warmth brought out an undercurrent of sour fruit skins that were actually intriguing. The flavor was mostly of wet day-old coffee grounds with sour fruit skins laced throughout.. vanilla gave a mild sweetness and a touch more of an impression on the finish.. although the sourness probably wasn’t supposed to be there, it worked ok, and got this beer a couple extra 0.1s from me. An odd slick feel on the palate with light roast and what turned out to be an almost complimentary sourness.. tacky, grainy, unpleasant coffee finish. Drinkable, but not very good.