Wolaver's Alta Gracia Coffee Porter
Our winter seasonal brew, Alta Gracia Coffee Porter is made in cooperation with the Vermont Coffee Company using 100% certified fair trade, organic coffee from the Alta Gracia farm in the Dominican Republic. Alta Gracia Coffee Porter is an exceptionally smooth and flavorfully complex beer that is surprisingly true to the porter style. The hint of vanilla brings out the sweetness of the dark-roasted Dominican coffee.
3.5
245 reviews
Middlebury, United States
Community reviews
bottled - coffee and vanilla flavors. Nice creamy finish. Taste is really good. Nice color and aroma too. Very good porter.
Very dark brown with brown head. Lots of pleasant coffee and a hint of vanilla in the aroma. Medium body, roast malt and vanilla. A lot of coffee flavor, a ver nice light/medium roast coffee flavor. Lots of vanilla lingers in the finish.
---and the coolest cap ever!
Pours a one finger, light brown, creamy head. Color is black with mahogany edges when held up to the light. Stringy, soapy lace. Freshly ground coffee aromas. Medium body and creamy smooth. Tastes of coffee beans, faint vanilla, sour acidic notes in the middle and some fruity hops at the end, but the hops don't last long before the coffee takes back over. Overall, I like how the coffee is most dominant, but the porter quality is still there.
The pour is a cola brown/maroon with a huge tan head that sticks around a long time. Stale coffee detracts from a classic porter roasted aroma. A little better in the flavor, sweet and chocolate flavors join the coffee and roast aromas. The body is a little thinner than I would prefer in a porter, but it is refreshing in its own way.
My Bottom Line:
Coffee and 70% cocoa allusions get together in this classic, friendly Coffee Porter.
Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam covers the brown-edged black.
-There is nothing surprising in this brew, but everything is competently executed and pleasant to drink.
-The soft carbonation makes the malts and coffee more prominent.
-This isn’t too sweet, nor is it too light-bodied.
On tap at Vermont Tap House.
Well done. Pours dark brown with a tan head. Creamy coffee aroma, Taste follows suite. Smooth finish.
Dark brown. Aroma woody coffee, chocolate. Tastes big roasts coffee earth char. Super light body for a porter brisk carb.
1.5-inch light-brown dust head, fine, slow-to-fade, aroma is lot’s of coffee (nutty, fairly sweet) cocoa. Flavor is chocolate coffee milk, grain (tastes oaty) oatmeal cookie. Medium body, oily, creamy, moderate soft carbonation. Surprisingly yummy porter!
12 Fl. Oz. Bottle. Poured dark brown, minimal tan head. Aroma of coffee and malts (roasted) combined with some vanilla notes. Taste has bitter notes from coffee and some sweetness from malts and some vanilla notes. Drinkable and enjoyable.
Bottle. Dark cola. Rich roasted malt and coffee grinds with chocolate and creamy vanilla. Perfect semi-rich body, a little heavier than standard porters. Huge value in this $8 six pack. Awesome.
Draft. Dark cold with a thin mocha head. Tons of nice coffee grinds, with roasted malt, chocolate and a touch of vanilla. Something akin to pretzel in the finish. Slightly thin mouthfeel but substantial enough. Really pleasant surprise.
Draft->shaker. Dark brown with lite tan head. Roasted coffee and chocolate malts. Lingering bitterness. Fairly smooth. Decent.
Poured from 12 oz bottle nearly black, forms small off white head of foam that dissipated quickly. Aromas of strong coffee, slight vanilla, some wood, dark chocolate, and burnt malts. The aromas don’t so much shine through in the flavor as one might think. It starts with a light flavour of coffee bean then some chocolate malt in the end with a touch of vanilla. Medium on the palate. Slightly sweet and slightly bitter. Flavours disappear quickly after every sip. Virtually all malt. Strong coffee forward, nice winter type beer.
Draft at the Otter Creek taproom. Standard visuals for a porter, inky and poofy. There’s a BIG coffee aroma with a smoother drink, almost like they’d added cream. (#5804, 10/9/2014)
Transfer from BA review on 5-30-12-
Poured from bottle into pint glass
Appearance – Pours a deep brown color with a nice billowing tan head. The head has very good retention, but eventually fades to give a lighter level of lacing.
Smell – The aroma is overall rather light. It is heaviest of roasted malt and a nice dark coffee/ espresso aroma. These are the dominate aromas but there is also a very light vanilla aroma that mixes in with the other two rounding out the roastier/darker aromas well.
Taste – The taste starts out smooth and bready. The bready is of a roasted malt/dark bread in nature. This flavor quickly mixes with notes of coffee flavor and a lighter vanilla flavor. The vanilla loses some ground as the coffee gets more intense toward the end. At the end of the taste you are left with a mildy sweet and very pleasant coffee flavor on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – A medium bodied medium carbonated brew. A bit more body would have enhanced some of the nice coffee and light vanilla aromas, but overall it was pretty appropriate and good.
Overall – Not overly intense in coffee, but it acts as a nice addition to a porter base. The little bit of vanilla sweetness does well for balancing the roasty flavors. Well worth a try.
Bottle sample at a tasting at our place. Thanks zvikar. Very dark and opaque brown. Dry, coffee, sand, cayenne pepper aroma, coffee, slightly bitter with hints of vanilla syrup in the mouth. Full-bodied with a little ashy finish. Good.
Bottle shared at a tasting at kerenmk’s place. Pours brown with a beige head, aroma of coffee, chilli, vanilla some roasted malt, flavor of coffee, bitter chocolate, roasted tones, alcohol, medium bodied. Nice
Very dark brown / black pour, minimal head. Great aroma of chocolate, vanilla, chocolate, and a hint of licorice. Flavor is sweet, with milk chocolate, mocha, vanilla, and roasted malt. Very smooth, if a little thin.
Bottle sample at a tasting at kerenmk’s place. Thanks zvikar. Dark brown to black with a small tan head. Pleasant coffee beans aroma, a bit vegetal. Bittersweet roasty flavor with coffee, a bit "green", and a mild vanilla note. Medium-bodied. Good.
Poured cola colored with a quickly fading head. On the nose is dark roast coffee, some chocolate, charcoal, little in the way of hops. Taste is lightly sweet and bitter but not really in a hop-bitter way. Bitter like burnt coffee. Just OK.
12oz bottle. Coffee aroma. Dark brown with ruby tint. Beige and thick head. Bitter coffee taste. Enjoyable porter.
Almost opaque, oily black pour with mahogany fringes and a non-retentive head. Nice coffee and cocoa nose. Flavors have coffee, well done, alongside chocolate malts for sweetness and a nice roasted finish. Clean and well put-together, this is substantive and smooth on the palate. Extremely drinkable and soft. Delicious.
Sampled at Big Brew Beer Festival (Morristown). Poured a dark brown color with a small creamy tan head. One of the best smelling coffee beers I've had. Aroma of a fresh robust cup of black coffee. So good! Taste of roasted coffee, chocolate, dark roasted malt, and vanilla.
Pour out of 12 oz bottle, dark brownish black pour with thin tan head, aroma brought notes of dark chocolate, roast, lots of acidic coffee, espresso, some slight vanilla in there. Taste is a mix of nice coffee, roast, espresso, some slight vanilla into dark cocoa, cocoa powder, earthy, spicy notes, finishing fairly bitter, dry.
Draught at the brewery, 2/7/14
"Thick" looking black body seems to be pretty close to opaque (not tested) with a rapidly receding charred-beige head that sits around a cover.
Coffee, shockingly, in the nose is quite aromatic, with some sweeter chocolate notes and light vanilla. Not too much roast though a bit of vinousness does emerge as it warms. No hops noted in the nose. A touch of glue-like notes that I usually associate with coffee beers. Medium strength of aroma.
Coffee is immediately mixed with roast bitterness and sweet vanilla-like maltiness. Carbonation is on the lighter side, which is never good for these coffee beers, IMHO, even though I usually like porters to be low in carbonation. I just think the coffee builds up too much and unless they are nearly bone-dry examples (this isn’t), it just gets too be too much without lots of carbonation to break things up. Alternately, lots of roasted malt vinousness could do the trick, but that is also absent here. Still, as negative as all that was, the coffee here is done well, not overdone and real. The beer is a little too sweet only after significant warming. A bit watery and syrupy at the same time, on the finish.
bottle. cola colored pour. coffee heavy porter as expected. roasted malts, some chocolate, heavy coffee infusion. decent
Poured from a bottle it is a cola brown color with a slight head. The aroma is slightvsweet malty aroma. The taste is bitter strong coffee which is a surprise from the delicate aroma
From a 12 oz bottle shared at home. Pours a clear dark cola with a thin ecru head. Malty nose. Flavors of coffee dominating, but with strong chocolate and licorice notes. Medium bodied, moderate carbonation, bitter finish.
Pours a two finger tan head that fades quickly leaving no lace. Black color, no highlights, yeast left in bottle. Light carbonation and medium-heavy bodied. Roasted coffee nose and flavor is strong roasted coffee. $1.90 for a 12oz bottle from a Tully’s Beer & Wine Wells, ME.
From the 12 fl. oz. bottle. It pours mahogany brown with reddish hues and a soft tan head that settles in for the session. Vibrant aroma of dark roasted coffee, vanilla beans, and yes, maybe the slightest dark fruit character. Medium and smooth body. Roasted coffee merges with a biscuit malt sweetness and the mildest of hop finishes. Only vaguely bitter but totally enticing. I wish I picked up more of these.