Wolaver’s Coffee Porter
January 8, 2010
Well, its been a coffee porter kind of week here at The Brew Club! Earlier this week we checked out the excellent Kona Pipeline Porter, and now I’m getting my crunchy-gear on to try out the ‘Certified Organic’ Wolaver’s Alta Gracia Coffee Porter!
My wife surprised me by bringing home a sixer of this from the local Whole Foods. I hadn’t even mentioned to her that I recently tried another coffee porter, so I thought that was pretty cool too.
The backstory to the Wolaver’s Coffee Porter is that they use organic coffee from a Costa Rican farming village of Alta Gracia. The organic coffee is grown by the farmers, and they are paid fair prices for their product.
The other cool thing about Alta Gracia is it seems to be an educational farm where locals can learn organic coffee farming techniques themselves and make a living by selling their shade-grown coffee to companies like Wolavers. Nice stuff.
So how is this hippy beer anyway? Looking back, I rather enjoyed the Wolaver’s Organic Pale Ale (my first organic beer) so my hopes were high. Pouring the beer, you can see it created a decent beige foamy head, and when I gave this organic coffee beer a sniff, well sure you got roasted coffee, and malt – perhaps even a bit more of a chocolate smell than the aforementioned Pipeline Porter from Kona.
Taking a swig, the dominant flavor is obviously coffee – which is cool. Me like. The coffee flavor was a little more bitter than the Kona version, and it was stronger too – it reminded me of unsweetened dark-roast coffee – in beer form obviously. ( Almost like someone forgot to add sweetner to the coffee.)
The label states that organic chocolate malts and organic vanilla beans are infused in the brew (no trail-mix though), but I was hard-pressed to find any significant vanilla flavors coming through. Yeah, there was more of a chocolate ‘fusion’ going on than in the Kona Pipeline Porter and you can pick that up in the aroma as well as in the flavor.
Overall, its a smooth drinker, but definitely more bitter. I did find that the overall flavor improved dramatically when this beer is allowed to warm up a bit. Definately let this one sit outside of the fridge for 10 or 15 minutes and you’ll get the fullness of the flavors.
Standing on its own, I did enjoy the Wolaver’s Coffee Porter, and I think if you like coffee flavored brews you’ll like this too! It supports the farmers that grow the coffee in a fair way, and in addition, all of the ingredients in this beer are certified organic. That means that all the stuff that goes into the beer is grown free of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and wacky genetic engineering. Kinda wholesome, no? I think its a great excuse if anyone complains about your beer hobby! “Hey, this beer is ORGANIC! I’m helping the Costa Rican farmers earn a living, and the shit is ORGANIC! ORGANIC!!!”
Seriously though, the beer is good and I’m glad I have more than one bottle of it to enjoy! While the flavors are different than the Kona version, (different coffee is used too) I think its a very good coffee porter that gets 3 stars (not quite as good as the Kona) but I’m giving the Wolaver’s Coffee Porter an additional 1/2 star for all of its crunchy goodness!
Rating: 
What do you think? I’m kind of getting into a coffee beer craving phase. Have you tried the Wolaver’s Coffee Porter? What’s something you’ve had that you’d recommend for me to try?
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Posted in 3 Star Reviews, Ales, American Beers, Bocks, Porters and Stouts
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January 8th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Scott:
I’m confused. What is the Crunchy about? Don’t forget to pick up some of the Rogue Mocha Porter. I’m interested in how it stacks up against the rest. Also it sounds like you liked the flavor of the Kona better, but gave the Alta a higher rank? Is it because of the organic thing, and the fact that they are teaching 8 year olds how to grow and pick shade tree coffee? Just a little confused about this one.
-Don
.-= Don´s last blog ..What’s Yer Pleasure This Weekend? =-.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Sounds earthy, cruchy, and tasty Scott. I’ll keep an eye out, as I believe my wife shops in the very same Whole Foods as yours.
I learned from DFH’s Punkin Ale this fall that a beer with vanilla in it MUST warm up a bit before you can fully enjoy it. Vanilla flavor disappears when it’s cold and blossoms as a beer warms. Which makes me wonder how much vanilla must go into a scoop of ice cream for there to be any flavor.
.-= Jim´s last blog ..What’s Yer Pleasure This Weekend? =-.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
@Jim, that’s an interesting observation about the vanilla. Thinking about it, I’d agree. Your wife can’t miss it – its stacked like a wall just about when you walk in the door!
@Don – I guess ‘crunchy’ is a poor description, my bad. I was using it as a lifestyle term (not offensive) rather than a flavor, or texture heaven forbid! (Imagine crunchy beer???!!!) – I also used some potty-mouth in this post but I was just feeling crazy when I wrote it. Actually, I gave the Kona 4 stars, and did like it better overall, but gave the Wolavers a solid 3 and a bonus 1/2 for doing nice things with the organics and the coffee picking people.
I’m scouting for the Rogue. (Need an app for that)
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Beer Review – Kona Pipeline Porter =-.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Hey Brew Club,
Long time listener, first time caller. Okay, I’m not a long time listener, in fact I just started following you on Twitter. Great blog, its a fun read. I have tried the Wolavers Coffee Porter, great beer, massive coffee and subtle vanilla, simply delicious. I would add Peak Organic Espresso Amber to your list of coffee beers to keep an eye out for. There aren’t many coffee beers out there that aren’t either a stout or a porter but this is one of them and it’s a good one. The coffee flavor in this one is intense but smooth. I love it, hope you can try it someday. Cheers,
DA
.-= Allmendinger´s last blog ..Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire =-.
January 8th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
@DA – Thanks for stopping in and thanks for the compliments. I’ll have to follow you back, I see you’re involved in the awesome ‘brewoff’! Thanks for the suggestion on the Peak organic Espresso. Their stuff is fairly common around here, so I’ll keep a look out for it! I’m liking these coffee beers!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Christmas Beer – Delirium Noel =-.
January 8th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Great reviews, Scott. I knew what you meant by crunchy. Don’t apologize. Crunchy people know they are, well, crunchy. So get into the spirit and put on your Birkenstocks, stop shaving and chain yourself to a tree while you sip this one.
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Polish Crumb Cake =-.