Vanilla Porter
Waterloo Brewing

 

 

 

 

473 mL can from their winter sampler pack; packaged Sept 9 2014 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a dark, black-brown cola colour, with deep red tinges under the light, while generating one finger of creamy, off-white froth. It wilts steadily over the next couple of minutes, settling into a filmy cap and bubbly collar, along with a decent swath of sticky lacing. The aroma is overpoweringly dominated by vanilla bean, with accompanying notes of molasses, butterscotch and cookie dough. It pretty much smells like candy.

The nose certainly isn't misleading, as the vanilla has been turned up to 11 on this one. Although the background contains elements of roasted malt, milk chocolate and caramel, it is definitely the sweet vanilla flavours that rudely demand the bulk of your palate's attention. Finishes with a touch of earthy roast, which leads into an aftertaste that reminds me of vanilla coke, almost to a tee. Light-medium in body, with moderate carbonation and a smooth, satisfying mouthfeel. This one is quite easy to drink, although two cans would be pushing my limit - the vanilla just gets cloying.

Final Grade: 3.44, a passable B- It took me a while to decide whether Waterloo Vanilla Porter was an alright beer or basically just a tolerable one, but I eventually decided upon the former. The vanilla flavour is bordering on obnoxious, but it doesn't go completely overboard -and the base beer (which I believe is their Union Mills Porter) isn't all that bad. Definitely a niche beer - fans of Mill Street's Vanilla Porter may want to give this one a look; this competitor obviously lacks the nitro mouthfeel but is more or less comparable otherwise.

 

No subtlety whatsoever with this one.