Cascade Lakes Monkey Face Porter

Brewed by Cascade Lakes Brewing Co.
Style: Porter
Redmond, Oregon USA

(12 oz bottle: Newport Avenue Market in Redmond, OR) Starts off chocolaty and moderately sweet, but the roast soon kicks in and the beer finishes roasty, moderately bitter and dry. Sweet, chocolaty, and roasty nose is quite nice and reflects the flavor accurately. Medium bodied and gently carbonated. Very dark brown, but with a general ruddy tone. Smallish light-tan head gradually settles to a ring. Pretty much an average porter, and thus rather enjoyable for my tastes.

The beer as it sets in the glass, ebony in color, the head modest, the consistency frothy, the color a nice tan, and as its erodes quite quickly, it leaves behind some clumpy lace. Nose is light toasted grain, a slight hint of coffee, somewhat sweet, fresh and clean with the start sweet, the top cadaverous. Finish is minimally carbonated, hops scarce, aftertaste dry and overall, a very thin and weak beer for a “Porter”, which means it will not fair well in my evaluation.

Bottle: I could mistake this for a stout, its that dark.   Moderate to large beige head, foamy, fairly nice lacing.   Dry cocoa nose, soft roasted malts, a touch of cereal.   First sip reveals heavily roasted malts, slight coffee, a touch of cocoa.   Mouthfeel and body on this one are quite thin, or should I say thinner than expected.   Would have never guessed based on its looks.   Finishes with a sweet lactose like flair.   Not bad, fairly good in fact, but wished for it to be a bit more robust.

12 oz bottle, via Dubbercody. Pours a very dark brown colored body under a one finger foamy brown head with decent retention. Aroma is very chocolaty with a light hoppy bitterness. Lighter notes of yeast and a grainy huskiness. Flavor is a little weak, but what is there is pretty decent. Chocolaty with minimal roast, it finishes dry with a little chalk. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with fine active carbonation. Texture is oily. Overall, a little weak in the flavor and mouthfeel, but this could be tweaked just slightly and be an excellent beer.

[Bottle] A good dark brown color nice light head. The beer was semi dry with a very dry finish. I got a little chocloate flavor but was hoping for more. This was a good Porter.

Bottle. Black color with basically no head. A light body, bitter and roasted. I was Bottle. Black color with basically no head. A light body, bitter and roasted. I was disapointed.

Aroma is muted and comprised mainly of coffee grounds. Could smell better as what you get smells good, but the concentration is so low it’s like listening to an acoustic version of War Pigs with a Harpsicord accompaniment. The body is a dark brown with very faint red hues and it appears black in low light. The head is quite impressive, two fingers thick, mocha colored, creamy and quite lasting. It’s a looker. Fore is slightly dusty coffee and milk chocolate then settles to a smooth cocoa and cream flavor that ends in a mildly roasty dry finish. Flavor is acceptable, but little more yet it looks and feels very good and that salvages the beer.

Deep dark brown, almost opaque, with ruby highlights at the edges. Fleeting tan head. Faint coffee and chocolate aroma. The flavor is smoothly delivered with dry coffee, chocolate, and light vanilla. Creamy and smooth with a dry finish.