CulturAle Press

Crooked Stave Coffee Baltic Porter Artisinal Beer Project, Denver, Colorado

Date:  December 15, 2018

The Story—  Crooked Stave is one of the hottest breweries in the states.  (see December 1 for another of their beers.) The “staves” imply a barrel conditioning program which indeed they have.  We’ve found some of their sours and wild beers, um, challenging.  They can break the mold, though, and brew beers that even recent craft converts can appreciate.

Baltic Porter is a style that emerged around the time of the Napoleonic wars at the turn of the 19th century.   baltic nations were already experimenting with beers that could compete with British Porters and Russian Imperial Stouts, but Napoleon’s Continental System, which largely blocked British imports, pushed the Baltic brewers to experiment with European malts and even bottom fermenting yeasts.

The style emerged as a strong porter — over six percent with some approaching nine.  The use of lager yeast — or even ale yeast at lower than usual temperatures, cut the fruit and increased the cleanliness of these porters.   In our experience they can have a lactic edge not unlike some of the Schwarz biers that survived behind the Iron Curtin in the Cold War.

The style is a good choice for Crooked Staves.  It could have pushed the envelope to something sharper than other Baltic Porters, but instead took a gentler approach.  While there may be some “staves” here, they’re on a leash and the resulting beer is unusually accessible for a Baltic Porter from an adventurous brewery.

The Beer— Very rich thick dark chocolate with plenty of dark roasted coffee.  Slightly herbal finish and maybe just a bit of lactose under it but — so rich, so dark, and so chocolaty.  Ellie, who likes dark beers in general, couldn’t get much past “Wow!”

Value —  Good; at least you’re not paying shipping costs from Estonia.

 This week we focus on the US to highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

Next week we return to  HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Including some surprisingly good beer in “bad beer cities” we’ve found in researching our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)   We’ll shift back to great American beer for a few days before ending our year with “the best 10 beers of the last five years.”

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.