Mint Chocolate Chip Crunch
Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant

The past couple of days have been an amazing CANmalgam of Goses & Pilsners, but now my supply is exhausted. I had the Duvel as kind of an oddball, but it will lead me back to some of the breweries from which I reviewed beers the last couple of days, including Transmitter, Manayunk (CANayunk), Sly Fox, Conshohocken (CANshohocken), Sloop & Great North. Following that excursion, I will be focusing on imports for a while, bringing me full circle to that one. Stay tuned. It's gonna be CANother wild ride on The CANQuest (tm)! The previous deviation was to a Porter, opening the gateway to CANother Porter (or two).

From the CAN: "Mint Chocolate Chip Crunch Porter Brewed with Chocolate & Mint"; "The Place Where We Drink"; "Reminiscence of a rich, creamy bowl of ice cream, Mint Chocolate Chip Crunch will cure your cravings for something sweet and satisfying. The subtle addition of mint complements the deep chocolate flavors both from the roasted malts and chocolate."

I Crack!ed open the vent only to receive a fingertip spritz due to its being a brimful craft CAN at the beginning of AmeriCAN Craft Beer Week! 8=O I decided to CANtinue with a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. My efforts were rewarded with the formation of two-plus fingers of foamy, soapy, rocky, deep-tan/light brown head with decent retention. Color was Dark Brown to Very Dark Brown (SRM = > 27, < 34) with mahogany highlights. Nose smelled like liquefied Girl Scout Thin Mints! 8=O Chocolaty, minty, mmm. My favorite! Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was pleasant, more towards dark or bittersweet chocolate than sweet with a cool mintiness. I know that they mentioned "subtle" WRT the mint, but I would have preferred a bit more of its presence. Finish was semi-dry, bordering on semi-sweet. This struck me as more of a novelty or a dessert beer. I would only want it again if they tweak the recipe slightly to enhance the mintiness. YMMV.

 

 

 

 

 

Solid black color, medium body , slightly thick creamy feel. Decent amount if carbonation. Aroma is milk chocolate,malt,mint, and thin mint cookies. Taste is so much like girl scout thin mint cookies which isn't a bad thing. It's a novelity beer but it's a very good one

Pours cola brown with some light penetrating the edges. No head really.

Smells like mint chocolate. Really pleasant smell.

Tastes follows the nose but not as strong as I would expect.

Mouthful is thinner than I like. Made it taset kind if watered down.

Overall ok. If you want the mint chocate beer thing, I'd recommend Southern Tier Thick Mint. This is too thin and the flavor is kind of watered down.

 

 

A - Dark brown pour with creamy and soapy-like caramel colored lacing.

S - Mint, chocolate chip, traces of Hershey's chocolate syrup, and cream aroma.

T - Earthy chocolate and mint. Ends with a watery light to medium chocolate/mint clean finish - not much chocolate bitterness or mint.

M - Watery and thin up front on the palate but backed up quickly with a solid medium body and silky texture.

O - Always going to support my local breweries but this one didn't do it for me.

 

Manayunk Brewing Co. "Crunch (Mint Chocolate Chip Porter)
12 fl. oz. can without production codes or freshness dating

Notes via stream of consciousness: Nice looking label and it sounds pretty good - mint chocolate chip. It says it's brewed with chocolate & mint. I wonder how many variations of the "Crunch" there are, and what was in the first one? Anyway, it's poured a finger thick head of creamy khaki colored foam atop an opaque brown-black body that only reveals a tiny glimmer of lighter mahogany brown at the base of the glass. It smells like chocolate and mint, and it reminded me of a Girl Scout cookie. Very nice! If they can get that balance in the flavor of the beer this will be a winner! Let's see... damn, that's good. It's got rich dark chocolate all over up front. It's so rich I thought the mint would be lost but then it appears in the end. I still think it could be more minty but they'd have to use an extract, you're not going to get that sweetish minty note with real mint, and so I'm OK with it. It's very nice. Perfectly balanced. Not too sweet with the chocolate but clearly flavored, and then dry in the finish with the mint chipping in a little bit (no pun intended). The question is, how drinkable is it? Would I want to have another one after this or will I be tired of it? I don't know, that's a tough one, I'll have to come back to it but for now I'll say that there's enough of an everyday porter there that I think it would work. I wonder if it will give me minty breath? Chocolatey for sure! Looking back, the head has dropped to a better than average collar and the lacing is decent. It could be better but I won't complain as the softer, just lightly zesty carbonation is at least partially responsible for that and I'll take the softer mouthfeel as a trade-off. Medium to medium-light in body by the way. Hmmm, the mint is starting to build on me in the finish. It's just a little bit but I'm not even halfway through. Let me give it a few minutes... ... ... So I've now gone through most of the glass, and the mint hasn't built up on me anymore, and I'll say it's got good drinkability. I might have another one - certainly not two more, but one, and I think for most beers with flavorings added that's usually my limit.