Alley Kat Coffee Porter

Brewed by Alley Kat Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Edmonton, Canada

Serve in English pint, Stem glass

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Bottle courtesy of presario
Dark brown with no head. Low carbonation. Very vegetal coffee nose. Beany taste with slight roast. Thin malts try but fail to back it up. Timmy Ho’s.

Forgotten notes from sometime in 2011. The pour is a nearly opaque black with a thin cap of tan head. The nose is a big and robust roast with nice espresso roast and burnt coffee note. The smells almost like pure black coffee when you put way too much in the filter. The taste is nutty and malty with a robust malt and a beautiful bitter and powerful coffee taste. Sweet in the middle with a nice bitterness on the finish. A lightly bitter coffee aftertaste remains for a while, but it is pleasent. A medium to full body with a nice chewy malt mouthfeel. overall, this way a great brew. Alley Kat needs to make this one again.

650mL bottle poured dark brown with big tan head that settled to an amazing lacing. Aroma is of coffee and roasted malts. Taste is coffee bitterness and roasted malt sweetness. Medium to heavy body and mild carbonation. I totally hate coffee and still thoroughly enjoyed this beer. It is quite well balanced and quite good.

Single bottle purchased from Bin905 Spirits in Calgary, AB on 05/03/2011. Colour: Black with minimal head. Nose: The most distinct and true coffee aroma I have (to this date) ever smelt on a coffee infused beer!...and its a dark roast at that! Its actually more like used coffee grounds vs the actual liquid. Accompaning it is some extremely high % cocoa, pie crust and peanut. Taste: Light sweet, light sour, medium bitter. A smattering of salted butter initially coats the mouth, then a flood of intense coffee...but it quickly resides after mid-palate and the butter returns and also a salted light fudge....and the rest is history. Alley Kat has done something good with this one.

Pours most like Cola. very Thin Tan/brown head that disappears soon after. I am a coffee fan largely so first off the notes or type of coffee used - Impressive along with typical hints of chocolate. tatses better than smells.Again the type of coffee beans used are amazing/great choice. Malts lacking as mentioned in other reviews ( i think if they had of balanced this better they would have a winner-at least for me ) Light body - almost watered down if anything. Oddly the taste is reminiscent of an Iced Coffee - couldn’t get that outta my head each sip i took - not a bad thing. Love Alley Kats brews, just wish maybe they spent a lil’ more time concocting this one as huge potential

Pours out a deep opaque black, yet gives up garnet/cola highlights when held up to direct light. Tan head lasts a minute but not much longer, and recedes to a thin ring. The smell is amazing. Like I stated above, I’m not big into coffee, but even this is appealing, and impressive to pull off. This porter does nothing but give off an intense and clean cafe au lait aroma, straight to the point. Roasted malt and equally roasted coffee grounds in the flavour. Fairly one-dimensional, but they do a good job with that singular flavour profile. The coffee is certainly present, but not too overbearing over the malt. The mouthfeel is medium-bodied and somewhat gritty, but carries the flavour fairly well.

bread and oak tone in the aroma. Had a dark red almost purple pour, long lasting frothy head. Salty sort of taste, but nice and sweet in the back of my mouth. Overall, a strong porter, but lacked a good "punch". Fairly smooth.

This is a beer that really puts the coffee up front. Perhaps too much so? Strong, bitter coffee pervades the bottle, knocking the porter completely to the side.

Pours near black with sizeable lingering head. Aroma is predominantly dark roast (almost burnt?) coffee. Taste is coffee. Tasting better than it smells. The actual beer disappears too much for my liking. I could be mistaken, but the coffee seems to give it a sharper acidity that fights with the "porter" part of it.

It pours a black color with some light brown hues in the bottom. It has a tan head that quickly vanishes too a thin ring. A mild amount of carbonation. On the nose I am getting a ton of coffee it is pretty dominating. Some roasted malt as well. The flavor is huge on the coffee but as well some good chocolate. Also some roasted malt. It is a little thin with the malt. But still a well done beer. It finishes with a little bitterness but not as much as I was expecting. I would reach for this again. Makes a good session beer if your into porter’s. To be honest I dig the seasonal stuff more than the normal lineup from these guys.

***review from Dec 28, 2007***
First thing, there is obviously a shitload of coffee in my glass...man, it’s a pretty intense brand of coffee. But the only thing this reminds me of is camping when I was young, the parents would wake up early with obvious hangovers and then they would stoke up the stove and make endless coffee. This beer smell just like the leftover still filled cold coffee filters. A good flashback memory but that’s about it. Not quite black (initially - 1/3 of a glass left shows that the beer is actually just a very dark brown) with ample redness on the bottom bit of the glass. Light brown cap that needs to be thicker, survives as a skim, minor slippery spotty lacing. Like I said, the aroma is intense but this smell doesn’t do it for me...I think I prefer a milder coffee. Memories of cigarette cannot be shaken although that smell is not part of the beer. This coffee smell sucks. Cold coffee. That’s it. Thick dusty bitter coffee flavour that comes across quite a bit softer when really warm. I’ve probably found the weak berry flavour that mmmmbeer mentioned along with the chalkiness and sourness. Really, this beer has no depth in the flavour department. Mouthfeel is a bit thin even though the coffee hammer tries to make it appear thicker. Smooth beer overall though. Near zero carbonation. I have brutal coffee mouth. Finishes with some bitterness that surprised me. OK brew and decent brew for followers of the local brew.
update on appearance: It was obvious that I had poured this poorly on my review. The other bottles all did this consistantly: poured out a very thick and tall crown with ample retention and 360 degree silty lacing.