Flat Earth Cygnus X-1

NorCal Feb ’08 - A big thanks to faro99 for bringing this with him on his recent trip out West. This is just an outrageously tasty beer. Just sublime. Perfectly balanced is the key here. A nose of iced coffee, hazlenut, chocolate, dark brown sugar...man...nice. Appearance is dark chocolate/near black in color with a nice two finger thick head. Mouthfeel is creamy, silky smooth and oh so balanced with the carbonation. Flavors...whew...flavors are just mouthwatering coffee, roasted malts, nicely hopped, caramel. Reminds me of eating some kind of See’s chocolate. The roasty bitterness and the sweet malts really hit it off. Amazingly easy to drink. Highly recommended.

On draught at the Happy Gnome in St Paul, MN. Pours an opaque near black brew with a decent creamy off-white head that has a slow dissolve and leaves behind an excellent lacing. Aroma of dark chocolate, dark roasted crystal malt, a touch of coffee and vanilla. Taste is full bodied, very light carbonation, smooth, silky and creamy with more flavors of dark chocolate, coffee and roasted malt. Finish is just as smooth as its flavor, with a slight dry bitter aftertaste in the finish. I’ve been watching this small brewery since it started a year ago. The first few brews have been average at best, until recently. Their Bermuda Triangle started to pique my interest. This Cygnus X-1 Canadian Porter is at the time I am writing this their best brew! Keep up the excellent progress Jeff. This beer will go places!

Tried this with Jeff at the brewery. This porter pours a very nice deep dark brown, with a nice tan head. Very balanced nose with a good dose of floral hops and the coffee and chocolate jump out. Flavor is a wonderful balance of bittersweet chocolate, coffee, a light roasty toasiness, and the finish is trademark Flat Earth with a killer lingering floral and coffee character. Jeff’s beers continue to get better and better, with this being the best so far.

On tap at the G nome. I would certainly agree that this is the best FE brew to this point. Very rich flavors of coco and some coffee. Good amount of hops in there as well. This is what porters should be! Hopefully this gets the bottle treatment.

Dark brown filled pint with a low glow of amber at the edges. Finger high, soft, lush, spongy foam of a light sandy brown sits atop with good strength. Smal bits of lacing stick to the glass well. Solid lofty porter aroma of dry breads, cocoa, and caramel. Tenderly sweet and dryish to the air, elluminating with a nose of solidness that screams porter. Nice taster of a porter, simple, yet fulfillingly rich in a softness of breadishness and slightly biscuity-like elements are encompassed with far reaching elements of cocoa. Nice tidbits of caramel swim around underneath along with some smallish hints to dark fruit sweetness and milk chocolate powder. The dryness is subtle and clean while the sweetness and cocoa/caramel round it out with a fine tuned balance. Very light hints to smoke and tin float into parts of the finish. Body is a delicately smooth and firm mediumish tone with a great clean profile and slippery creamyness. The dryness that it carries is quite nice here as its just enough to make an impression while letting the smoothness of cocoa and slight sweet tones balance it out. It’s no brute of a porter by any means, but a damn fine example of the style. Not sure what the whole Canadian reference is about. Maybe the band Rush? Perhaps that will be revealed at a later point? But it is suppose to be a lighter version of what an American porter would usually be. The drinkability is a glide of fun, solid, porter taste and has an easy going character and complextion that seems simple but does not approach any such missing elements. A well crafted brew by Flat Earth. Perfect for this crisper, cooler Autumn air.