Embers Raspberry Vanilla Porter
Payette Brewing

Nitro pour at the taproom. Almost opaque, hints of ruby hued light sneaking through around the edges, one finger creamy, dense head. Nose defers to the raspberries. A little roasty malts come forward in the taste, some chocolate, more raspberries, but having difficulty finding the vanilla. Nitro provides velvety textures.

a new one, but still, i thought i had enjoyed and reviewed this before, sometimes i forget, but this is really tasty, a nice addition to their lineup, which needed some modernizing, and i think a good alternative to others like it out there, as this is way less sweet and desserty to me, and even though summer is a weird time to release something like this, well made beer is always in season, and this is a fine porter at its core. almost drinks more like a brown ale, without the huge body or intense dark grain roast of a lot of porters, very mild in those respects here. the raspberry and vanilla are both a little candied tasting to me, not fully berries and beans in terms of format, but not cheap tasting either, and the key is that they are not dosed too high, and this is allowed to remain on the dry side, especially for what it is, do its way more drinkable and less teeth coating than its peers. raspberry more up front, juicy and maybe faintly tangy, with the vanilla on the back end, kind of a melted ice cream thing to it, nice with the chocolate malt in here, and this has a very valentines day vibe to it, box of chocolates, raspberry truffle sort of thing, but its still easy drinking somehow too. the high carbonation helps with that, as does the little bit of bitterness from the darkest reaches of the malt base, plus the dark rather than milk chocolate tones they have cultivated in here make it more adult. not necessarily the beer i want on a 100 degree day in august, but i still dug it, and will be happy to have a few more of these as fall sets in. glad to have some new payette beers in cans finally!

 

Review #1418

I have drunk three of these so far, I am going to review this last one. The beer is 46 degrees and served in a pint glass. The pour of the beer produced a two-fingered light tan head. The foam is airy. The foam did not leave any lacing on the glass. No visible reddish hues in the head of the beer. The foam dissipated quickly and left no lacing on the glass. The color of the beer is SRM 34, a dark oily brown with a tinge of red. The beer's appearance is below average. I want a firmer head.

The initial aromas in the beer are vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. Nosing further I smell, raspberries, toasted malts, roasted malts, molasses, a touch of phenols, molasses, burnt sugar, and a scent of Maillard.

The flavors in the beer are burnt sugar, chocolate, raspberries, medium coffee, vanilla, molasses, floral esters, Maillard, smoke, a hint of phenols, toasted bread crust, and roasted malts.

The mouthfeel of the beer is dry and slightly tart.

The body of the beer is medium, low carbonation, and a medium finish.

The beer is good but makes me want more. To me, the harmony in the beer is off-kilter. I can taste the raspberries and lend a tartness to the porters. The dark roasted malts gave away to some bitter roasted malts. The phenol note I detect comes across as a little bit of band-aid flavor. The beer is okay, I wanted more vanilla and chocolate flavors.