After an already great day in the Seattle and Redmond , Washington area, finishing up the conference I was attending at the Microsoft campus, picking up beer to bring home at The Cork and Vine, checking out Black Raven Brewing, visiting Pike market and the Pike Brewery, I met up with my cousin to hit a few more breweries before I head out of town in the morning. Our first stop was Fremont brewing where we visited their urban beer garden. However, I didn’t get a chance to review the beer I was having there. So, our next stop was a small microbrewery my cousin was very excited about called Reuben’s brews. They had a very nice set up for a small microbrewery-tap room. There was an awful lot of hoppy-citrusy stuff on the menu, but I wanted something a little more malty, so I went with their porter.
Location: On tap and served in a regular tumbler glass at Reuben’s Brews in Seattle, WA.
Numbers: 6% ABV, 30 IBUs, 1.059 OG, ~ 185 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s brown in color and had some brown highlights when I held it up to the light. It had a thin, off-white, head, which fell after a few minutes to just a ring around the glass. However, it left some nice lacing on the glass. The aroma was a light mix of roastiness, coffee, and cocoa.
Taste & Feel: The body was somewhat light and the mouthfeel was slightly crisp. The flavors up front were cocoa-like with a good amount of roastiness. In the middle, more of the coffee and black malt flavors came in. The finish was bitter with a mix of an almost earthy bitterness and coffee-like bitterness. The cocoa and coffee flavors lasted for a little bit in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: This beer had lots of roasty characters with cocoa and coffee flavors. However, the body is fairly light. So, if you’re looking for a beer to pair with a very rich, chocolate or fudge dessert, this beer will match nicely. The cocoa flavors in the beer will help keep the flavor there, but the light body will help you wash some of the richness down easily.
Overall Impression: I enjoyed the roasty cocoa flavors up front, as well as the mix of cocoa and coffee flavors in the middle. I thought this was a very drinkable beer, and only wish the carbonation crispness in the mouthfeel and the coffee-like bitterness in the finish were toned down a bit. However, I thought this was a pretty good beer.
My Rating: 
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