Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Porter
Denver, Colorado USA

There’s only one word to describe this one --> unbalanced. Just way too sweet as vanilla flavor overpowers every other flavor. Oh yeah, the body is weak too. Big surprise, another average Breckenridge.

Sampled at WBF in Durham back in October, was on tap, poured dark with an aroma of the obvious vanilla, coffee, chocolates in roasted malts. Flavour much of the same, vanilla comes across smoothly, roasted nuts come in at the end to balance out this lovely porter. Very nice beer.

Sampled at Lundeen’s Brew Ha-Ha 2009. Pours a clear brown with ruby highlights and has an average white head that sits atop it. Aroma is sweet with notes of molasses, chocolate, toasted malt, a light doughy-ness to it and a strong vanilla nose. Flavor has a very smooth sweetness composed of caramel, chocolate and an overall strong vanilla but is the perfect amount to compliment the sweetness present perfectly. A nice body and a very creamy feeling to it. Overall, generally it is very hard to do vanilla brews without overdoing the vanilla. This brew did a great job of preventing this and in turn, produced a fantastically memorable porter.

On tap at Breck brewery in Breck: I think they served it a little too cold off the tap. However, even when I let it warm up substantially the vanilla and typical porter flavors (chocolate, coffee, hops) never really revealed themselves. The color and head were good despite the lack of character in flavor and palate.

Let me first say that when I first had this beer, I absolutely hated it. The vanilla was so dominant in it that it was sickening. So as a "present" I dropped the last three I couldn’t pawn off in a buddy’s fridge. That was about a year ago. Tonight for the heck of it, I cracked the lid on his last one. Boy am I glad I did. I was rewarded with one of the better beers I’ve had in awhile. So here we go... 12 oz. bottle. Pours almost black with small ruby highlights and a small, light tan head. The nose is heavy with chocolate but also a slightly vegetative smell. Medium carbonation and a rich mouthfeel. The palate was quite enjoyable with the immediate taste of milk chocolate, light vanilla notes, and some latte thrown in. Rich and delicious! As the beer warmed, stronger coffee notes emerged, but not enough to overpower the milk chocolate taste. It had a medium finish with lingering chocolate notes. Quite nice! I wouldn’t recommend it while young, but you will be rewarded if you let one of these sit around in the fridge for a few months!

Rated 8/26/07. 12 oz. bottle courtesy of ’Naka. Pours dark black/brown with no head. Nose of coffe, vanilla, malt, and a hint of alcohol. Good porter taste. Not strong in the coffee department. Nice hops, and then a vanilla finish. Not bad.

Pours a very dark but clean copper. Has a small light tan head with moderate carbonation. The initial aroma was almost sour but quickly turned to mild malt, cocoa, and faint vanilla. The flavor however is pretty big vanilla. Also malt, chocolates and nutty. Not bad.

Bottle, light roasted malty aroma. Deep dark reddish color with medium tan head. Initial bitter metallic flavor. Mellows to a roasted malty flavor. Slight nutty quality, vanilla is not overly evident. Body is fairly thin. Sharp acidic tinge when it hits your mouth. Taste is best on the end of the duration. An ok porter.