Wicked Lobstrosity
Benchtop Brewing Company

 

 

Can dated 3/5 (revisit same batch, end of June):
The beer pours nicely, thin and easy flowing medium dark brown flowing from the can opening. The head grows to almost half of a Teku on my moderately aggressive pour. The head is a nice light brown with medium small bubbles. The beer leaves wisps of lace lines down the glass.
(revisit: not as impressive a look, but for a near 4-month old regular porter, not bad)

Nose is moderate to light, and leans heavily on a coffee-leaning roasted malt profile. Inhaling deeper, I start to get some dark, unsweetend chocolate. No smoke beyond the roasted "char," no coconut. The nose did seem to focus on the core of a dark, roasted porter.
(revisit: there is a heavier charred note - and that and fresh grind coffee are the dominant notes)

The feel is not just light, but near watery. There is a nice moderate level of carbonation up front, but it seems to fade by the time it hits the back of my tongue, adding to the watery impression.
(revisit: feel is still thin and lacks a back end presence - but I wouldn't go so far as I did before with "near watery")

The flavors aren't as full as I'd like, but they're not absent. However, the feel seems to have some effect here. Opening is a chocolate/cola like flavor, followed by a too-brief coffee aspect.
(edit here: on a second can, the roasted notes, specifically bitter coffee are quite a bit more prevalent. The coconut note mentioned below might be swallowed by this, but not quite sure. Raising taste a notch)
A bit of woody bitterness and perhaps, just perhaps, a bit of toasted coconut in back. The flavors are all together not bad for a regular porter, but the additions are mostly missed, which is kind of disappointing.

This comes to me as a somewhat light but coffee roasty porter - maybe even something like a quite light Irish stout. It's miss on feel for me flowed into taste and overall.
(revisit: age has somehow produced much more fresh grind coffee presence, perhaps at the cost of a more balanced and cohesive beer - did not alter rating on the revisit)

Coffee dominates the flavor over the other adjuncts. I personally would have preferred more coconut, or chocolate, but overall an above average porter

L: Poured from a tallboy can to a pint glass. Had a dark brown / black color and a thick consistency. there was a quarter inch of foamy, tan-colored head that lasted an average amount of time. pretty good lacing.

S: A very nice aroma of coconut, roasted malt, chocolate, and some coffee.

T: Tasted of a fair amount of chocolate (more pronounced as you go along), a lot of coconut, mild hops (mostly in the finish), a tinge of coffee, and a lot of roasted malt. A smooth and sweet flavor that gets better as you go along. The chocolate and coconut mix well together giving a good balance to the taste.

F: A good amount of carbonation with a silky smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: An incredibly solid porter all around. Well worth a try.

 

Poured a black body with minimal head and no lace along with an aroma that is mostly a harsh, burnt malt aroma. The beer itself is better than aroma as it's a smooth, almost lactic beer with minimal coconut (more like coconut milk) sweetness and the coffee notes are mild (but do lead to dry finish), and has a mostly chocolate sweetness to it. For how bad the different ingredients could have gone they work well and it's a well-rounded beer.