OSKAR BLUES’S HOTBOX COFFEE PORTER: PREDICTABLY GOOD

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OSKAR BLUES’S HOTBOX COFFEE PORTER: PREDICTABLY GOOD

Oskar Blues, Longmont, Colorado Abv 6.5%

Oskar Blues pioneered the modern concept of canned craft beer. Their products proved that beer in cans would have at least as good a shelf life as beer in bottles and under most circumstances, better. It’s interesting to see the last of the big brewery holdouts (Lagunitas and Dogfish Head) have now started to can some of their beers.

Oskar Blues makes a predictably good coffee porter

I didn’t drink coffee until I was in my 60s. It was beer that brought me to the bean. I really like the wave of coffee stouts and coffee porters, so I figured I should like the coffee they put in them. Much like a novice discovering something better than Bud, I discovered that there was far more to coffee than Maxwell House.

Oskar Blues Hotbox Coffee Porter was far too late in coming on the market to influence my path to coffee addiction, but it would have been enough to give me a push if it were available a decade ago. Now it’s a good go-to, easy-to-carry-along chocolaty coffee porter.

Tasting notes: Almost as much chocolate as coffee from the aroma to the finish. Some lactose hops on for the ride and it finishes with some brown and burned sugars. Ellie found it sweeter than she would have liked, but appreciated the dusty cocoa notes in the finish.

Pairings: We’d suggest steak, spaghetti, desserts and, of course, breakfast.