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At the Casablanca Bar in Frankfurt.

– this post created with BlogPress on my iPad

Needless to say I’m enjoying this business trip. Ever since my old friends Don and Mike told me of the wonders of German beer gardens I’ve wanted to visit one. I can now check this off my “Bucket List,”

- this post created with BlogPress on my iPad

I love chocolate.  I love beer.  And I love coffee.

Well guess what.

I may have found the only thing I have to drink from now on. We have all three ingredients in one bottle. It was a foregone conclusion I would think it’s wonderful.

You can smell the chocolate and the coffee the moment you pop the top. You can taste them, too, mixed with the rich malts and bubbling hops. The coffee edge is even more pronounced than the chocolate. In fact, the coffee taste blends in and piggybacks so closely with the beer malts that my tongue is thoroughly confused.

Am I drinking coffee with a bit of beer in it? Or am I drinking beer with a bit of coffee in it?

It can’t tell one way or the other.

On the finish, the coffee and the hops battle each other for the control of the bitterness. It’s interesting, kind of like watching a back alley fight.

There are some requirements for liking this beer. You have to enjoy a dark, strong ale. And you have to enjoy drinking coffee black with no sugar. I’m not sure if that’s a problem for some people or not, but I can tell you one thing, as good as this stuff is I’m not going to put cream and sugar in it.

The folks at Rogue really are rogues. So far I’ve liked everything of theirs I’ve tried. And I’m serious, I want to move to Oregon. Perhaps when my love and I make it there, we’ll start up a combination brewery, coffee roasting, and chocolate company?

I can dream, right? Anyway…

This stuff is good. It doesn’t quite make the Holy Grail scale, but I wouldn’t have a problem drinking it every day. The coolest thing about Rogue’s Mocha Porter is that I can actually cross post it on both sides of GroovyBrew.com.

This was originally posted June 18th, 2007, back when I lived in McKinney Texas. I’ve brought it back up to the top as I’m revisiting this porter tonight, in Wheaton Illinois, during a icy February thunderstorm…

I hate moving.

After popping the top of this Black Jack Porter from the Left Hand Brewing Company, I’m sitting here on the veranda with my laptop, enjoying the pleasant breeze and looking down with sympathy at the poor schmucks who are moving out of the apartment complex.

Carrying huge boxes, grunting with pieces of furniture. Man-handling a table that looks way too big to have fit into one of these little apartments. Meanwhile I’m sitting up here with a beer.

Looking down at them, thinking, sucks to be you.

I sniff the bottle, detecting sweetness and deep chocolate malty goodness. Oh yeah. This is going to be a treat.

The first sip does not disappoint. It starts off as sweet as it smells, with some sharp winey notes. Very rich, dark, full bodied. Yes, I like it.

Below me, one of the movers curses as he bangs his elbow against a corner of the truck. Ouch. Poor guy. Wish I could help, but I’m already busy.

There is a sudden upwelling of mocha in the flavor. The roasted chocolate malt comes to the foreground with a most definite espresso coffee taste. What is it with coffee in the beer flavor? Not that I’m complaining but it seems I’m running into it more and more often. If it’s a trend, then it’s one I like. Obviously.

At the tail end the hops come up, but only for a bit. It’s like they make a cameo appearance before the malty mocha takes center stage once more. It makes me smile. I could easily drink several of these in a row.

Meanwhile, the hapless movers have wheeled a washing machine out and are standing around it, dreading the idea of lifting the heavy cube of machinery into the truck. They look up at me. I can see what they’re thinking. They’re about to ask me if I can come down and help.

I grab the beer, the laptop, and slip quietly inside. Yeah. No freaking way.

I hate moving.

UPDATE: I proclaim this a groovy brew and rate it 5.4 on the Holy Grail Scale. Left Hand Brewing Company rocks.

“Bleh.”

Quite disappointing.

Quickie field review: Bleh. Very poor excuse for a porter.

So you’ve set the controls on the TARDIS for 2011 and land in Chicago. Feeling thirsty, you step out and go looking for a beer. What would a Time Lord with an English accent naturally gravitate toward?

Meantime London Porter.

From a marketing standpoint it’s already a winner. The shape of the bottle is so different that it catches your attention. The label is attractive and sophisticated, and a tad steampunk. It looks like a time traveller’s beer. It just does.

The downside is that the bottle only holds 11.2 fluid ounces, which especially for the price seems a bit of a rip off. Oh well, you think. Quality before quantity.

Right? No? Hmm…

Okay, back to reality. The bottle and the label did attract my attention – quite a feat especially considering the gigantic, seemingly endless wall of beer I was facing. The fact that I’m partial to porter sealed the deal. I picked it up.

At home, popping the top, the smell is so faint I can’t catch anything from it. A faint whiff of yeast, maybe. Alcohol. The thinnest ghost of malt.

The bottle keeps foaming over – there’s a lot of carbonation. I tip it into a glass and pour, and there’s a dismally small amount of beer. It better be good, is all I’m thinking.

The first thing that strikes me on the initial sip is that Meantime London Porter is exquisitely smooth. The immediate impression is of mild sweetness, quickly followed by a rising tide of milk chocolate, which in turn is followed by a balancing wave of dark chocolate malt. It finishes with a sweet, waxy aftertaste.

This is a good porter, and I like it. I like it so much that I’ll rate it a 4.3 on the Holy Grail Scale. What I don’t like is that you get so little in a bottle, and the bottle is rather expensive. There are equal or better porters in bigger bottles for less money, which means I won’t be partaking of this London porter again.

Still – nice bottle. I think I’ll keep it.