Pecan Pie Porter
Backwoods Brewing Company

Poured from a 12 ounce undated can with an ABV of 5.9% into a tulip glass.

Appearance- Deep brown, medium brown creamy head, opaque, average head retention, slightly above average lacing.

Aroma- Caramel, chocolate, pecan, between weak and medium strength of scent.

Flavor- Caramel, chocolate, pecan, weak strength of flavor.

Mouthfeel- Between thin and medium body, average carbonation, mildly sweet, moderately bitter, very mildly creamy, mildly mouth warming.

Overall- Deep brown and opaque with average head retention and slightly above average lacing. The bouquet was a nice mix of caramel, chocolate and pecan, but the intensity was on the weaker side. The flavor followed the nose, but the strength was even weaker. The mouthfeel consisted of between thin and medium body with mild sweetness, moderate bitterness and a very mild creaminess. Overall, this beer had pleasant aromatics and flavor, just not enough intensity and the body was thinner than expected. With some slight modifications this beer could be significantly improved.

12oz can courtesy of my wife's boss
Poured into a Golden Valley Brewing Belgian-style tulip

P deep mahogany w/ a 1-2f khaki head; looks good; med-heavy lace left behind
N med nose of sweet maple syrup, cocoa, roast, and a light graininess; inviting; more roastiness and pecan/dark fruit sharpness from the profile pokes through as it opens
T definitely more sharp and less sweet than the nose lets on; grainy malt, sharp pecan notes, a dark fruit element, and char; has a kind of lactic sourness about it; far from what I was anticipating here
Mf light-med bodied w/ med-high carb
O was hoping for a sweeter, smoother profile here- an extension of the aroma (which is its best attribute, imo); overall, not a huge fan of this one, which is disappointing as I've had other brews from them that have been really good

Review date: 09.06.25
Can date: indiscernable (sometime in 2024)

 

A friend of mine brought a 22oz bottle over one evening and we split it while watching a movie. It is a decent beer for what it is but is too sweet for me and not a fan of pecan pie. My friend enjoyed it more than I did but he likes pecan pie. 20 IBUs Rated 10-9-2023

 

 

pours dark thick head that coats the glass - big nutty ,malt smell creamy malt and pecan taste

 

 

I like the smell and taste of this beer, it is a nice one to use as a dessert beer or a light porter

seems like nothing but flavored beer from these guys, but this one is real tasty, maybe the best ive had from them, light for a porter for sure too, looks more like a brown ale, and the body is a touch thin for all the flavor this has, but it all works really well when taken as a whole. the nose is real pecan to me, authentic in aroma for sure, roasted and even candied, hints of maple and brown sugar too but its not diabetic, and i get some nice cocoa character from the malt as well, desserty but not overly so, the dosage is what trips me up, like how can it be this intense and have come from real nuts? to me it almost has to be a flavoring agent to get to this level, which is also true in the flavor, honest and real as this element actually is, its the proportion that throws it off. the flavor is good, praline without being too sweet, concentrated pecan flavor, a walnut thing too, raisin and cocoa powder but no deeper roasted malt, it never quite gets to porter level for me, even a light one, and that dark grain aspect seems missing in the flavor. its light without it, light in body too, so the pecans pop, a maple note and even a buttery aspect make it pie-like, and i like this overall, just not sure how much i can or want to drink. it could all be toned down a little, and a bit more roasted grain would do good things for the balance, but its unique and its fun, a cool brewery to in distribution here in idaho now!

 

Tasty little number, pours amber/dark brown with a huge khaki head, balanced aromas and flavors that showcase the nuttiness and the competing maple-y sweetness.

Bottle from On the Fly Gasmart. Dark brown pour, medium beige head. Sweet, nutty aroma, taste also is quite nutty, but lacks the gooey caramel sweetness of the pie. Kind of dry too. Pecan yes, pie no.

Had on tap at Bulldog Saloon Lynnwood, WA

Dark brown, but lets some light through. Nice little off white cap that slowly lingers down to just fuzz and a couple of bubbles in the corner.

Nose starts off with the brown sugar sweetness I would expect from such an inspiration. There's gooey sweets and some nuttiness... it actually captures the pecan pie character pretty well. I was just at a wedding between a pair of southerners and one of the desserts was a homemade pecan pie, and this is not entirely dissimilar, at least at the aroma stage. It's a little sweet for my personal tastes, but it captures what its' going for pretty well.

Taste has an initial blush of some of the same brown sugar/syrupy sweetness, but that dries out almost immediately. Nuttiness, woodiness, dry, almost more the pecan shells than the meat of the nut. It gets a little watery and thin through the middle, before wrapping back around to the kind of almost mildly herbacious bitterness that nuts can get at times. It captures elements of the inspiration it's reaching for, but feels like the middle kind of dropped out... it doesn't have the depth of character I would hope for. Pecan pie has a richness (mostly from the sweets, which... at least it's not just an indiscriminant sugar bomb!) to it that is lacking in this liquid form.

Carbonation is strong, and kind of masks some of the shortcomings mentioned above, but ultimately I find myself wanting... something more than the dry nuttiness of the finish and the initial blush of sweet to the front end.

I don't want to sound like I'm ragging on this, because it's not bad. Not by any means. It's just not what I was going for. And I say that as someone who doesn't like pastry stouts, and isn't into a bunch of sweets overwhelming my beer... it just feels like the middle kind of dropped out.
Think dry nuttiness with a suggestion/hint of brown sugar and a tonne of carbonation. That's my elevator summation.

 

 

12oz canned on 10/27/21. Malty sweet aroma, sugary and a bit of spice. Flavor brings a lot of sweetness, caramel, eggy vanilla custard. Not a lot of pecan flavor, though that's maybe a hard thing to come through (though w00t stout did it amazingly well). There may be a little bit of roasted malt flavor down in the bottom of this, but it's almost completely covered up with pie flavors. This is 100% a dessert beer and it's so delicious it doesn't matter how simple it is.