Embers Cinnamon French Toast
Payette Brewing

Draft at taproom. Medium brown pour, sparse head. Aroma is mainly cinnamon with notes of vanilla. Taste is the cinnamon and vanilla, with little sign of any maple syrup. Overall, it tastes like the adjuncts we're just mixed in to the Porter, not brewed in. Meh...

Pours from a 12oz can a lot like a brown ale, dark appearance shows light through the thinner edges and there is practically no head...assuming thats from the adjuncts. Strong impression of maple syrup right off the bat, with a minor dose of cinnamon spice. Starts a bit syrupy but finishes very dry like a porter should, with a dark toasted grain note on the palate.

the latest in this series of flavored porters, and once again they bring more flavor than the beer needs, kind of overwhelming the base porter, but i guess not as rudely as some of the others have. i think the flavor combination is cool, i mean it presents to me as totally artificial both in aroma and flavor, but it does remind me of french toast crunch cereal, which i always had a soft spot for, so it kind of takes me back a little bit. cinnamon is way in front of maple and vanilla to me, which is probably how it should be, an almost mexican chocolate thing with the natural chocolate character in the malt base, both milk and dark, nice. the vanilla is the most natural of the elements, not overdone, a bit sweet, but its what gives this its richness and its also nice with the dark roasty grain, a coffee note to in mid palate. the maple is where it tastes a little phony to me, more an aunt jemima thing than a vermont grade a, and it makes this unnecessarily sweet in the center, although the finish is more balanced. the vanilla sort of accentuates that, the least good part of this, but the warming cinnamon and all the dark grain are nice. medium body, some balance for being as flavored as it is, adjunct heavy for sure, but overall this tastes good, it tastes like a memory, and thats always fun. i dont want more than one, but they did a decent job with this, assuming hitting the old cereal was the goal...