Backcountry Peak One Porter

Tap @ the brewery. The aroma is really malty some earthy, roasted, chocolate and dark vinuous fruit malts. Flavor was more of the same, rich and complex malt flavor as advertised. Finish is bitter coffee. Mouth feel is medium to light. I was impressed.

on tap-pours a thin tan head and black color with red tint. Aroma is dark malt-coffee/chocolate, oatmeal, dark fruit, faint hops, roasty. Taste is dark malt-coffee/chocolate/molasses, roasty, dark fruit, secondary hops bitterness. Medium body. OK carbonation. Nicely done. Occasional.

22oz bomber-A dark brown body with a decent tan head and an aroma of roasted malts, chocoalte, and coffee. Taste was the same. This is one of the better beers from these guys.

Bomber. Pours dark with tan head which disappears quickly. Smells of sweet roasted malt. Tastes of the same with a little dark berry. Quick finish.

I remember my first visit to the Backcountry Brewery. I never knew about it until I had asked at a hotel we were staying at for New Year’s. We had visited Breckenridge Brewery earlier that day and had some pretty good food, but the Backcountry visit was improvisational and late at night. We simply had been driving through Frisco when it appeared. Recognizing the name from earlier I asked if we could stop and take a look inside before we headed back to watch the glass ball descend in Time’s Square. The Peak One Porter was the only beer I took back that day, but it seemed to have been a good choice, especially with some aging behind it. The body is entirely black, slightly strange considering it’s a porter and not a dark stout. The head is a relatively thin mottled light brown in a typical precursor to the style. The aroma is where this porter really begins to shine. Grapes, grapefruit, celery, apple, sizzling steak fat, cumin and cocoa assault the olfactory in a reckless but exciting fashion, laying out the beer like a grand six course meal served on a long, candle lit table. Many welcoming scents of the home kitchen burst forth from the beer in an exceedingly friendly gesture, neither aggressive nor assertive like other beers I’ve tried within the style. The flavor is boisterous, with a piercing raisin element, and parsley, jerky and carrot in complementary roles. A root beer cum Dr. Pepper flavor aggregate sweetens the beer a bit too, balancing out the savory bits with a unique soft drink approach. The palate is a bit lighter than what I’m used to, and is too weak to carry the heavy-set flavors of the Peak One Porter, but this is a minor deficiency. Overall a very strong, filling and easy drinking porter, and a great souvenir to take away from a surprise visit, too.