Archive for July 30th, 2009

• Southern Tier Jah-va. Lovely coffee stout. A coffee lovers stout. Big bold & thick. Spice Girls "Wannabe" on iPod but that another story. #
• @SUjunkie most def. My first 21stA IPA. Hoping I can find more in NY. in reply to SUjunkie #
• @21stAmendment IPA on the deck. Brilliant hoppy summer beer. One of the best IPAs I've had this year. Love the can design. #

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Brewery: Berkshire Brewing Co.
Location: South Deerfield, MA
Style: Coffee porter

This is the second Berkshire we brought back on the Western Mass. Beer Run Road Trip. As Berkshire recommends refrigerating all of the ales, we decided to drink these first as they were taking up space in the fridge. I only wish we had bought more than a bottle.

I tend to prefer porters in the winter. I think they are a perfect lighter alternative to a big stout when sitting by the fireplace. I rarely ever consider a porter in the summer – though I often find them in sampler packs. If one thing can be said about Berkshire Brewing Coffeehouse Porter it is this: it’s a great summer porter. It’s not too thick or heavy but still packs a big dark ale flavor. I had this with steaks on the deck and it was a perfect match.

It pours a deep brown with a light brown creamy head. The head falls a bit too quickly for my tastes, but that’s nothing major really. The scent is thoroughly malt with a subtle coffee undertone. It’s not the big blast many coffee porters usually have. More like Berkshire is using a medium roast coffee than the typical dark roast or espresso. This is a fairly light bodied poret (as porters go). There a good malt flavor balanced nicely with the coffee. No bitterness but also none of the sweet cloyness some porters can have. Actually quite a refreshing porter for a summer evening. At 6.2% ABV it is not exactly a butt-kicker, but if drinking a bomber alone I suggest caution. It does sneak up on you a bit.

A bit about the coffee used. Turns out it is an extract (well I guess Berkshire can’t be cold brewing hundreds of gallons of actual coffee) made by New Salem, MA roasters Dean’s Beans. As coincidence would have it, I picked up some of Dean’s Beans Ahab’s Revenge on the same day we attempted to visit Berkshire Brewing. Dean’s Beans makes some excellent coffee and it shows in the extract they made for this porter. One of the few times I’ve felt an extract actually worked in a beer.