Diner Coffee Porter
Goose Island Beer Co.

Goose Island Brewhouse Philadelphia "Diner Coffee Porter"

From their website: "Coffee Porter, 5.4% ABV. We wanted to pay a tribute to all of the cups of coffee that get us through the day. Personally, Tim the Brewer takes his strong with cream and sugar, so that's what he tried to replicate. He brewed a porter with heavy doses of chocolate malt, roasted malt, crystal malt and lactose yielding a beer with rich flavors of semi-sweet chocolate, fresh roasted coffee and sweet dried fruit. But alas, we were missing the actual coffee, so we called our friends at Herman's. They roasted up some of their Diner Coffee Blend & we tossed in the fresh roasted whole beans and viola! Coffee beer with a touch of cream & sugar."

Notes via stream of consciousness: Well, just in pouring it I can tell you that this is one DARK coffee beer. It's an opaque black with just a glimmer of dark mahogany brown at the base of the glass when held to the light. The head is an oddly kind of grayish tan - I've never seen a head quite like this. The aroma is rich with coffee beans and green pepper. I'm guessing then that this has been sitting around for a while. I don't particularly mind the green pepper so it's OK with me, although I would prefer a straightforward coffee aroma. On to the taste... WOW! that's definitely got some coffee flavor to it. Unfortunately, it's kind of like Dunkin' Donuts coffee (I guess that's just "Dunkin'" now). It's nutty and roasty but also somewhat acidic. Diner coffee? Yes, the kind that you get when you go in a few hours after breakfast, or late night when it's been kept warm for hours. I won't keep kicking them in the balls over that though because it's certainly not the worst I've had so let's get to the beer itself. Well, it's hard to say what's roasty from the beer and what's roast from the coffee. There's some caramel, some chocolate, and some nuttiness from the base beer, and a mild bit of leafy, grassy, and woody hops. I'm not finding any fruitiness and I'm guessing they used Chico or California ale yeast for this, and I'd agree with that choice ~ although I do often find fruitiness in some of the better coffees that I drink. It's mildly bitter underneath, and the little bit of spiciness that it's developed is nice in the finish. It's aggressive at first but smoother in the finish ~ well, a little bit smoother. In the mouth it's medium-light in body and crisp with a standard carbonation. So what to say about this overall? "Diner coffee"? Yes, I think they've nailed that! Does that make it the best coffee porter I've ever had, no, but it's not bad, and it's definitely got a whole lot of coffee going on. In fact, it may be too much coffee. It almost seems like coffee with beer added rather than the other way 'round. Still, it's worth trying.