Joel Porter
Infusion Brewing Co.

 

 

We decided to order this one off the tap at Stokes Grill and Bar in the Old Market area of Omaha, Nebraska after discovering they were out of the Deschutes’ Black Butte Porter. The beer arrived in generic pint glasses. It showed a dark soy sauce coloring, with flecks of golden brown left shimmering near the bottom of the glasses. A minimal half finger head of sudsy, battered cappuccino colored bubbles retained well, leaving spots of lacing that glided down the insides of our glasses. No haze or sediment was noted, and carbonation appeared to be moderate. The aroma gave beautifully authentic roasted coffee notes, macadamia nut sweetness, light milky chocolate sweetness, roasted black malts, burnt barley, honey sugars, tinny metallics, lactic acidity, cooling pseudo-vanilla bean chemical bite, light soapy hops, and hints of herbal spiciness. Following through the flavor was richly roasted bittering espresso beans and robust black and chocolate malts at the forefront, with creamy milky and lactic sweetness, cooling vanilla bean from the nose, nickel, soapy and sweeter herbal hop airs, vinous tomato acidity, and light orange peel. The body was lighter, and the carbonation was solidly medium. Each sip gave moderate slurp and smack, and excellent cream, froth, and glug. The mouth was initially cooled and slicked, but then moderately dried into an easy and light finishing tannic dusting. Abv was appropriate, and the beer disappeared quickly.

Overall, this was a delightfully refreshing and easy to drink beer. The aroma’s lightly sweeter notes and bolder coffee essence intrigue the drinker right from the start, and the flavoring follows the nose quite closely with a similar inviting robustness. The feel is in keeping with the style, and nicely balances said delicate sweeter notes. You get this intense, coffeed, and nutty malty roast, which resonates nicely with the vanilla, milky chocolate, and honey notes. We were excited and happy to try this beer, particularly since we were only in Nebraska for a short period of time, and were thrilled to get our hands on something remarkably local. This beer definitely did not disappoint, and proved to be a fantastic introduction to the offerings of Infusion Brewing.

Coffee porter using Hawaiian macademia but coffee. Actually not a bad combo despite using a blended coffee. Nice nose, good body, coffee is well integrated and not over the top. Pretty awesome.