Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Brewed by Breckenridge Brewery
Style: Porter
Denver, Colorado USA

A friend ordered this and i gave it a try... i was really surprised. This stuff was actually really good and had a great vanilla aroma and flavor. I’m a bit new to the porter style, but this was a very good beer.

Pours a dark brown with a thin beige head. Nice caramel malt and vanilla aromas. Flavor was a little sweeter, but not as strong with vanilla as I was expecting. Even without the vanilla, it would be a respectable porter, with some decent roasted malts. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel. One other note--I’d drank most of this bottle and then forgot about it when another, much hoppier beer (Sierra Nevada) came. But later I realized that I hadn’t finished the Breckenridge and went to finish it. This time, I picked some smokey notes I hadn’t noticed before. It may have just been the residual of the other beer playing tricks on my tastebuds, but interesting nonetheless.

Extremely dark brown color......opaque. Thick, fluffy head......mild malt aroma, with a hint of sweetness. Noticeable vanilla flavor up front, but not overpowering. Pretty smooth mouthfeel. Taste of vanilla continues in the back, balanced by notes of mellow roasted malt.

I really like this beer if only because its was a unique drink with vanilla. The spice is a good compliment, it is hard to describe except as a beer vanilla malt.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is of dark roast malts and light vanilla, and quite sweet. Flavor is of medium chocolate with a slight vanilla aftertaste. Interesting beer; well done.

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!

Pours dark ruby, thick beige head that dissipates to a fantastically clingy lacing. Aroma has a faint vanilla hint. Thin mouthfeel, somewhat malty, and the vanilla is very subtle. Really taste it on the back end. Pleasing but not fantastic. It’s not as hardy as I’d expect a porter to be, if it wasn’t for the vanilla, there’d be almost nothing there to taste.

This is one of the better vanilla flavored brews that I have tried.. maybe the fact it was a porter saved this beer. It was good but I will not reach for it in the future.