Beer Amongst Friends

I love travelling and finding obscure beer to bring home, to try and share with my friends and family, and to review and tell you all about.

But I also love when friends also travel, and think of me, and return with more obscure beer to try.

And when I use the term obscure, I mean obscure to me.

This weekend, I had the honour of hosting one of my oldest and dearest friends, Stuart, and his wife and daughter. Stuart is an associate professor of history at the University of Guelph. He is an extremely knowledgeable and interesting person who can talk at great length about the history of coffee—and make it sound fascinating.

As part of Stu's research, he gets to travel the world. Recently, his work took him to southern Brazil, and so when he came to visit this weekend, he brought me a most generous gift: beer.

Demoiselle Porter (6% ABV)
Cerveja Colorado
São Paulo, Brazil
Beer O'Clock rating: 3

Colour: deep brown with a thick, rich, foamy, taupe head that lasts.

Nose: mild chocolate and coffee, malt, honey, and freshly cut wood.

Palate: bittersweet chocolate and oak, which carries through to the finish and mixes with coffee.

Overall impression: this is a pleasant, easy-drinking porter. While I find that wood is perhaps a little over-dominant in the nose and on the palate, it's not unpleasant because the coffee in the finish gives it a rich roast flavour.

Thanks, Stu. This was a treat! Keep travelling!

Cheers!