Cavelight
Northwoods Brewing Company

 

Can to English pint glass.
The appearance was a nice looking dark brown close to black color. A nice eggshell white to almost tan foamy head started on top and slid off nicely. Some delicate lace here and there.
The aroma had some roasted nuts, dark toast, semi-bitter dark chocolate nibs, subtle licorice sweetness, then some super light features of dark fruits.
The flavor leaned towards the sweet side initially but seemed to slide into a semi-pulled back roasty/robust and semi-dry coffee bean tone. Mild aftertaste of roasty coffee beans, dark toast and dark fruits.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a decent sessionability about it. It's not too dry but seems to cope with some stickiness but mostly quaint. Good carbonation. Finishes with a light sticky dark chocolate tone and a touch of dark toast.
Overall, I can see it as a robust porter, maybe closer to an English porter, but its still worthy of coming back to.

Overall a very nice porter. Some lovely lacing on my glass with complex flavors of coffee, espresso, and some citrus (lime, lemon).

This is my very first beer from Northwoods Brewing, a new-ish brewery located in SE New Hampshire. I've seen some of their stuff around but for whatever reason never decided to pick any up. They've had some cool ideas, and seem to really enjoy using "kveik" yeast, a newly-rediscovered Norwegian family of yeast strains traditionally used for farmhouse beers, but which are being used in more modern times for quick IPA fermentations, esp. when it comes to NEIPA and its sub-styles, but this one is the first beer I've ever seen claiming to use kveik for a non-IPA. This is a 7.2% porter using the "Lida" strain of kveik for its fermentation. I'm always down to try a new brewery, and doing something unusual like this gives me even more reason to give 'em a shot, so why not?

Pours an attractive deep brown color with a good buildup of tan/brown head that reaches up to about two fingers at its highest point. As this foam sinks down to a single finger (and retains there!), it leaves behind fantastic lacing which snakes consistently around the edges of my glass, all the while bearing spectacular surface coverage and nice legs. Alright, this is great looking. This has the appearance of a spectacular porter... as long as it holds up in the nose and on the palate, we'll be good!

The nose is giving me some ripe red and darker pit fruit notes, which seems a little concerning to me at first. The brewery claims that this has "flavors of unsweetened bakers' chocolate, caramel, and roast" so I'm hoping the fruitiness up front is just something the yeast is doing (plus, it may be a bit cold). It's also a little funky, herbal, and kinda farmhouse-y. Is that kveik yeast doing its own work here? This definitely does not smell like a clean beer, I must say. It's kind of a pity, because this has a lot going for it. This small brewery actually can-dates their beer and has a nice aesthetic, plus the unusual idea is always a bonus. Hopefully it tastes better.

Yeah, something seems weird here, for sure. It's quite funky, with a rustic "almost-sour" note to it, kind of like a less-dry Brettanomyces-inflected porter. Flavors of black raspberry, horse blanket, red grape must, raspberry jam, dark chocolate, treacle, and dusty yeast-driven earthiness. Apparently the Lida kveik strain is known for being fruity (especially stone fruit and white grape), so I actually don't think this beer has a fermentation issue or anything, I just think maybe this idea and recipe in general should be taken back to the drawing board. The idea of a "farmhouse"-yeast fermented strong porter is a very good one, in all honesty, and, though this has a nice feel with some good flavors, it just feels a bit too "fast and loose" and doesn't come together the way it probably should. It's not a bad beer, but with some work, it could be a truly great beer. I look forward to giving some more Northwoods stuff a shot. They seem like they have good taste in recipes (hell, they make a traditional young kellerbier, how bad can they be?), but maybe the actual product needs a little tweaking.