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Wolaver's Alta Gracia Coffee Porter
Otter Creek Brewing
- From:
- Otter Creek Brewing
- Vermont, United States
- Style:
- American Porter
- ABV:
- 5%
- Score:
- 88
- Avg:
- 3.94 | pDev: 12.44%
- Reviews:
- 255
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Aug 16, 2020
- Added:
- Oct 30, 2009
- Wants:
- 33
- Gots:
- 107
Unfiltered and unpasteurized porter brewed with Vermont grown organic coffee and aged on organic vanilla beans.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by jondeelee:
Reviewed by jondeelee from Massachusetts
3.6/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.6/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Alta Gracia Coffee Porter opens to a coffee-heavy nose, with black coffee and espresso grounds mixing nicely with ash and tobacco, and all of this atop a layer of heavy coffee cream, molasses, and caramel. The aromas are big and bold here, at least at first, resembling in potency an Imperial Stout aged on coffee grounds. The aromas do fade after a few seconds, reducing from medium-heavy strength to medium-light, but remain finely nuanced. As the aromas fade, a layer of toast crust and brown breads emerges, as well as notes of wet hay. Tinges of pine and grapefruit from the hops add bitterness. As a whole, the initial aromas are excellent, but fade quickly, and these lesser later aromas seem somewhat watery and weak, and overly reliant on coffee for body, as if the removal of the coffee would reveal a rather average porter.
On the tongue, the beer is immediately full of coffee, with strong black coffee, coffee grounds, espresso beans, and light ash washing across the tongue. The coffee notes are strong enough that other flavors are initially difficult to locate, and only after a few seconds do bits of caramel, vanilla, molasses, brown sugar, and cream come forth—but these are very light, as if a single teaspoon of flavored coffee creamer had been mixed into a very large cup of over-strong coffee. In subsequent sips, however, the coffee flavors actually lose potency, and instead the beer features a balance between breads, coffees, and sugars that is more tolerable, with nice notes of vanilla and caramel mixing with dark breads, toast crust, and espresso. The coffee notes, however, are those of coffee that has been ground and exposed to open air for a while, reducing their flavor and potency. Hops are almost nonexistent, providing mainly a bitter piney background fuzz. The flavors are still somewhat weak and watery, but are nicely flavorful. The aftertaste is a continuation of the coffee and bread notes, with fading sugars, and lingers on the tongue for a short while. Mouthfeel is medium-light to medium, and carbonation is medium.
Overall, this is decent fare, but marked at first by an overly-heavy reliance on coffee notes, and afterwards, by a watery mouthfeel and slightly weak flavors. The flavors themselves are fairly nicely balanced, but the beer as a whole seems like it needed to be better balanced from start to finish, with more oomph put in to maintain flavors over time, and a few more sugars to increase the molasses and caramel notes. The coffee notes could have also been more fresh, like the lovely oily notes that come from beans fresh out of the roaster. In all, some very nice points here, but nothing extremely eye-opening or catchy.
Feb 05, 2013On the tongue, the beer is immediately full of coffee, with strong black coffee, coffee grounds, espresso beans, and light ash washing across the tongue. The coffee notes are strong enough that other flavors are initially difficult to locate, and only after a few seconds do bits of caramel, vanilla, molasses, brown sugar, and cream come forth—but these are very light, as if a single teaspoon of flavored coffee creamer had been mixed into a very large cup of over-strong coffee. In subsequent sips, however, the coffee flavors actually lose potency, and instead the beer features a balance between breads, coffees, and sugars that is more tolerable, with nice notes of vanilla and caramel mixing with dark breads, toast crust, and espresso. The coffee notes, however, are those of coffee that has been ground and exposed to open air for a while, reducing their flavor and potency. Hops are almost nonexistent, providing mainly a bitter piney background fuzz. The flavors are still somewhat weak and watery, but are nicely flavorful. The aftertaste is a continuation of the coffee and bread notes, with fading sugars, and lingers on the tongue for a short while. Mouthfeel is medium-light to medium, and carbonation is medium.
Overall, this is decent fare, but marked at first by an overly-heavy reliance on coffee notes, and afterwards, by a watery mouthfeel and slightly weak flavors. The flavors themselves are fairly nicely balanced, but the beer as a whole seems like it needed to be better balanced from start to finish, with more oomph put in to maintain flavors over time, and a few more sugars to increase the molasses and caramel notes. The coffee notes could have also been more fresh, like the lovely oily notes that come from beans fresh out of the roaster. In all, some very nice points here, but nothing extremely eye-opening or catchy.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by sulldaddy from Connecticut
3.94/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
3.94/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Sampling a cold 12 oz bottle poured into a snifter. The bottle has been in my fridge for many years and figured I would open it up tonight.
Beer pours a deep dark chocolate color with a creamy beige head of .5cm foaming up. This foam fades quickly to an edge layer.
The aroma of the beer is rich of coffee and hints of dark chocolate with some roasted malt too, but is still coffee dominant. No hint of hops nor ABV on the nose. Slightly surprised at how rich the coffee nose is on this one after how long its been in my fridge.
First sip reveals a medium bodied beer with gentle and spacious carbonation. Texture feels smooth and gently caresses my palate after each sip. Very easy drinking physical traits.
Flavor is roasted malt and coffee grounds with hints of sweet chocolate in the background. Pretty straightforward flavor profile, not really any hop character and booze is completely hidden. Beer does finish with a bit of a black coffee bitterness.
Solid porter with good coffee character. Not a lot of depth or complexity but would be worth a shot if it was still being made.
Aug 16, 2020Beer pours a deep dark chocolate color with a creamy beige head of .5cm foaming up. This foam fades quickly to an edge layer.
The aroma of the beer is rich of coffee and hints of dark chocolate with some roasted malt too, but is still coffee dominant. No hint of hops nor ABV on the nose. Slightly surprised at how rich the coffee nose is on this one after how long its been in my fridge.
First sip reveals a medium bodied beer with gentle and spacious carbonation. Texture feels smooth and gently caresses my palate after each sip. Very easy drinking physical traits.
Flavor is roasted malt and coffee grounds with hints of sweet chocolate in the background. Pretty straightforward flavor profile, not really any hop character and booze is completely hidden. Beer does finish with a bit of a black coffee bitterness.
Solid porter with good coffee character. Not a lot of depth or complexity but would be worth a shot if it was still being made.
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont
4/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
The appearance was a dark brown color with a concave film of lacing around the glass. The smell had sweet and roasty smooth coffee beans over top of delicate sweet cocoa powder. The taste was mainly sweet through the previously mentioned flavors and lead to a nice rich sweet aftertaste running into the finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fairly decent sessionability about it. Carbonation runs fairly light allowing a silky texture all about. Overall, what a wonderful coffee porter.
Jun 22, 2017Reviewed by BeerAndGasMasks from Virginia
4.03/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.03/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
From the possibly expired bottle, it pours a dark brown with a short lasting head. The nose exhilarates on the scent of coffee, vanilla and a bit of malt. The mouth enjoys the coffee and vanilla flavor. Yum!
May 15, 2016Reviewed by AngryDutchman from Pennsylvania
4.58/5 rDev +16.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.58/5 rDev +16.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Almost black, ruby when you hold it up to the sun. Lovely caramel colored head, although it dissipated fairly soon.
Dark malts and vanilla. Very promising.
Taste - delicious. Coffee, chocolate nib, roasted barley/chocolate malt and all good things barley.
Mouthfeel is smooth and lightly carbonated as it should be.
Top notch. Organic is a nice bonus. Another beer that raises the bar and discourages me from trying to brew my own out of fear of failure.
Apr 16, 2016Dark malts and vanilla. Very promising.
Taste - delicious. Coffee, chocolate nib, roasted barley/chocolate malt and all good things barley.
Mouthfeel is smooth and lightly carbonated as it should be.
Top notch. Organic is a nice bonus. Another beer that raises the bar and discourages me from trying to brew my own out of fear of failure.
Wolaver's Alta Gracia Coffee Porter from Otter Creek Brewing
Beer rating:
88 out of
100 with
782 ratings
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