Cooperstown Brewing Co - Benchwarmer Porter

Baseball isn't really a huge thing for us Brits, even those of us who moved across the Pond.  If you're a Brit who's really not into spectator sports, you'll probably find that when the topic comes up in conversation, people will start jabbering on in a weird, alien language with lots of references to strike zones and curveballs and Lord knows what else.  You'll eventually have no idea whether they're talking about a sport, a particularly aggressive war manoeuvre or some sensitive medical condition.

Beer, on the other hand, amounts to something of a national obsession for the British, so I was excited to discover that a mere 10-minute drive from the National Baseball Hall of Fame is the Cooperstown Brewing Company, a microbrewery with an attached tap room producing six different beers, including a pale ale, porter, stout and IPA.

Six varieties isn't a huge range, but sometimes it's better to do a few things well than to try producing too many varieties and over-extend a small brewery.  Today's review is their Benchwarmer Porter, very much in season at this time of year.  Here are my thoughts:

Image copyright
Cooperstown Brewing

Aroma - You can definitely pick up some roasted, dark malt aroma, and there's a slight chocolatey quality.  Some caramelly malt is evident too.  

Appearance - The Benchwarmer is a very dark brown, with a slight ruby hue when you hold it up to the light.  It's not opaque like a stout, and from what I could tell there was good clarity to it.  The beer has a decent light tan head with fair retention.  

Taste - Again, one can easily pick out the dark malts, but the taste adds a dominating hoppy bitterness to the experience.  I picked out some slight fruity esters.  There's also a definite roasted quality in the aftertaste, like burnt toast.  The pleasant chocolatey aroma doesn't really make it into the taste - the flavour balanance is definitely towards hops rather than malt.  

Mouthfeel - The beer has a medium body, with fairly high carbonation for the style.  One funny thing about porter is that you always expect the mouthfeel to be fuller than it actually is - I think it's because porter is closely related to stout, and even looks like stout sometimes.  But the malt bill tends to be lower, resulting in a lighter ale.


Scores:
Aroma: 4/5
Appearance: 4.5/5
Flavor: 2.5/5 (I think the hop bitterness was a little too high and the burnt flavour a little too prominent)
Mouthfeel: 4/5

Overall score: 3.75/5.


Overall, it's a perfectly fine porter - my preference is for maltier ales rather than hoppier ones, so it's not among my favourites, but it's a good example of the style, and it left me wanting to try their other varieties.  If a buddy drags me to Cooperstown for the Baseball museum, I know exactly where I'm going to drag them to afterwards!

Custom Brewcrafters - Double Dark Cream Porter

OK, readers, it's polling time!

When you think of beer, what kinds of adjectives come to mind?

Hoppy?  Malty?  Bitter?  Refreshing?  Floral?

How about 'chocolatey'?  Probably not the first thing you'd think of.  Even with many of the dark ales on offer in this area, I think we tend to major on roasted flavours and bitterness, so the idea of beer with chocolate qualities is still a bit of a novelty.

Which is why Custom Brewcrafters' Double Dark Cream Porter (they really have to come up with a catchier name) is such a refreshingly different brew.

Porter is an odd style with a rich history; broadly speaking, the style was a precursor to stout and so it's like a lighter-bodied version of that style.  It's growing in popularity - particularly in the US, although I do recall some examples from old Blighty where the style originated (legend has it that it got its name from the London hall porters and service workers who rather enjoyed it).  Main characteristics include a rich, dark colour; low hop flavour and aroma; dark malt characteristics without harshness or burnt flavour; and a medium body.  CB's porter achieves all of these really rather well.  

The beer pours a deep, dark-chocolate brown, not quite opaque but pretty thick.  There's a deep red colour to it, which you can see by holding it in the light.  It has a tan-coloured head, not massive but respectable.  There's not a lot of carbonation, but it's there - as a rule, British styles are less carbonated than American ones.

A chocolatey malt aroma hits your nose with the first sniff, and a little roasted barley underneath.  Some toffee-like scent is detectable also - it's a complex, strong, multi-layered aroma.  Really great stuff, and more subtleties are unearthed as you swirl it around in the glass, unlocking the bouquet.

The taste is equally complex and fascinating - chocolate flavour mingles with the nutty malts.  There's some hop bitterness in there, but this beer definitely leans more towards the dark, roasted malt side.  It doesn't taste burnt or acidic, however, unlike some dark ales.

This porter has a medium body, with low carbonation.  There's some alcohol warmth in there as it goes down, which is a great way to round off a full-blooded dark ale.  

Overall, this is a great example of the style, very drinkable with lovely malt characteristics.  The chocolate aroma and flavour are wonderful and it avoided the 'burnt-toast' character that many dark ales have.  Here are my scores:

Appearance - 4.5/5
Aroma - 5/5
Taste - 4/5
Mouthfeel - 4.5/5

Overall - 4.5/5.  It's an odd choice for a June evening, I suppose - this is the time when most craft breweries are bringing out their Hefeweizen and IPA, as well as fruit beers.  But dark, chocolatey malt flavours can be just as summery as the light ales - imagine this with a juicy steak or some summer barbecue favourites.  Delicious.