John Harvards La Prima Espresso Vanilla Porter

Sampled on draft at the Monroeville PA location this beer poured a very dark brown color with a small khaki head. The aroma was light sweet vanilla. The flavor was strong artificial vanilla with an undertone of dryish and bitter malts. There really was no coffee flavor to this and an awful lot of vanilla. The body was somewhat thin. The finish was very long vanilla.

On tap at the Monrowvilee John Havards. Dark like root beer. Head at first then fades to nothing. Has a sweet mild vanilla cream like aroma. No trace of beer in that smell. Almost has a candy like hit on the olfactory. Taste is immediately like cold black Irish cream coffee. However, it is not overwhelming in the bitter department like many coffee porters. This is for the most part enjoyable and easily appreciated. There is a building coffee bitterness on the back of the palate with each sip. Probably the most impressive beer I’ve had at John Havards. Again, this stuff is like drinken a cup of iced black coffee. Tho the vanilla is very present in the smell, I can only detect a hint of it in the flavor. This java porter taste more like coffee than any other coffee porter I have tasted to date. Good porter entry from JH.