Midnight Sun Arctic Rhino Coffee Porter

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Bottle and served in my Stone IRS snifter: Pours a deep brown with ruby highlights topped by a fading creamy beige head and left spotty lace upon the glassware. The aroma has a big noticeable component of Italian coffee and anise along with some chocolate, caramel, tobacco, walnut and fig esters. The taste is pure bittersweet with a layer of fruity goodness under it all. Midesection is dominantly nutty and a tad herbal. The finish is a tad metallic and smoky (ashy) with some lactic sourness popping in and out throughout. The mouth feel is an aggressive shot of espresso/charred dryness and bitter twang over oily lushness. Well hardly a deep beer, it offered more than the basic porter. Grew on me more I drank it.

Now to get my hands on the Berserker Imperial Stout!

22 oz bottle picked up at the Bierstien in Eugene, OR. Lots of coffee aromas coming off this black beer with a really nice tan head. Flavors were more coffee and chocolate with a bitter coffee finish. Pretty good stuff.

Bottle split with BossHossBikes in a blind tasting. Black. Man, all three of these beers are equally black with the same shade of tan heads. It’s not all that viscous and spotty lacing is noticed. The nose has distinct, defined coffee with hints of figs and licorice. However, I get some vegetation too that I’m not digging that much and some weird herby scents. The flavor is more appealing with the coffee and defined ash up front with suggestions of toasted oats. The finish reminds me of vegetables and a rubber hose though. This is similar to Atwater’s Java stout. There are appealing flavors but also weird off notes that subtract from the overall drinking experience. I could use a bit more coffee here, at least.

Coffee aroma, with vanilla and chocolate. Pours almost black, dark brown on the edges. Great coffee flavor, chocolate and vanilla, light on the palate, very smooth and easy to drink! Thanks Fantomas

22oz bomber Bottled first week of February, assuming 2007 courtesy of the Mystery Swap 2.0. Black with a 1/2 finger tan head that fades rather quickly to a ring. Coffee and roasted malts up front with a little bit of dark chocolate and minimal brown sugar are also present. Not a lot going on, but what’s there is good. Flavor has a bit less coffee and more roasted malts than the aroma did. There is just a hint of brown sugar sweetness, but not much. Moderate carbonation with a smooth medium body. Pretty good coffee beer--not complex by any means, but it is a good brew.

Thanks to Blake for sharing. Brown pour w/ red hughes w/ a thick tan head w/ good lace. Coffee aroma black patten malt pretty 1 dimensional. Palate is better than avg but not quite worth a 4. Dry roast black patent light coffee flavor.. pretty avg... boring but fairly well done.

22oz Bomber $5.13 Liquid Solutions Bottled the first week of February ’07 Arctic Rhino pours black, absolutely opaque black. There’s a hint, and by hint I mean sliver, of chestnut brown toward the bottom of my pint glass. A 1+ finger mocha head formed on the pour that fades to a thick cap of creaminess. Leaves sheet lacing on it’s way down. Roasted malts are first to greet the nose along with an unexpected but pleasant aroma of dark berries. Mild blueberries and blackberries. The freshly ground coffee shows up on the backend with a splash of cream and lingers around with a balancing herbal hoppiness. Very enticing aromas from this one. Nicely bitter roasted malts kick things off and the coffee steps in quickly for the one-two punch. Fresh coffee that balances very well with the roasted malt. Both linger throughout the swallow. Mid palate the creaminess that was in the aroma appears but is quickly elbowed out of the way by a pretty solid dose of hops. Bitter herbal hops. Good flavors all around. Mouthfeel is just slightly on the thin side with the carbonation being slightly too aggressive. Don’t get me wrong in no way is this bad just something for me to pick apart I guess. Welcomed hop and roasted malt bitterness on the finish. I could sit here and sip the night away with this brew. Some coffee infused beers are one and done for me but the coffee is just a component compared to others where it’s the showcase. My first offering from Midnight Sun turns out to be a solid porter I would try anytime if it was available in my area. Looking forward to trying all their beers I can get my hands on. 7/25/07

Skol Vikings Jason! Anyway, this beer pours to a black cola body with a thin tan head. The aroma is extract coffee and extremely coffee laden. Some dark malts. The flavor is chocolate-coffee and not very complex. The beer is very drinkable, however, even with the simplicity it has. The palate is medium bodied and has that acetic coffee bitterness.