From the Beer Writer: Many craft fans are familiar with Rogue Ales’ Voodoo Doughnut beers, a series of ales paying homage to the Portland, Oregon-based pair of donut shops through ales sharing flavor profiles of their outlandish baked goods. That collection has grown to include lemon chiffon cruller and chocolate-raspberry-pretzel editions, but it all started with a polarizing bacon-maple ale. Many respect the experiment—the beer smells porkily smoky and it certainly presents big maple flavors—but dislike its cloying sweetness. Count me among that group. It just tastes artificial and crudely constructed. It’s enough to make one leery of any beer striving to come across as the liquid incarnation of a baked good, but I was recently rewarded for giving another donut beer a go while dining at The Cork and Craft (16990 Via Tazon, Rancho Bernardo). Their list of house-brewed beers included Abnormal Full Pint Breakfast Porter, an imperial oatmeal porter brewed with Brazilian coffee and maple syrup. The addition of java is what rounds this beer out, resulting in a familiar coffee shop olfactory and taste experience. Nobody’s aching for their beer to taste like a donut, but roasty, bitter coffee contrasted by a bit of maple bar sweetness…now that’s something that’s much more complete and extremely enjoyable.
From the Brewer: “Brewing beer is fun. Brewing new beers is even more fun. Brewing new beers in collaboration with your friends is an absolute blast. The idea for the Breakfast Porter came about at one of the best beer fests in the country, the Firestone Walker Invitational. My buddy, Danny, who runs The Full Pint approached Mike Arquines, the Head Roaster of Mostra Coffee, and I about making a collaborative beer for their anniversary party in LA. I love making coffee beers and I love a challenge, so right there the creative juices were flowing…hard. We knew we wanted to make something big and bold, something to tantalize taste buds. I threw out the idea of using maple in the beer and BOOM, the idea for a beer that simulated a maple bar donut dipped in coffee was born. Breakfast Porter is an imperial oatmeal porter that uses a lot of grade “B” maple syrup at the end of an extended boil and Mostra Brazil Oberon coarse-ground coffee after primary fermentation. This is breakfast (or dessert) in a glass!”—Derek Gallanosa, Head Brewer, Abnormal Brewing Co.