Atwater Vanilla Java Porter - Atwater Block Brewery

yesyouam

New York

3.1/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Atwater Block Vanilla Java Porter is a brown/black beer with a thin khaki head that fades to a film and leaves decent lacing. It has a sweet, roasty aroma with notes of coffee and sugar and a touch of chocolate. It's medium bodied and watery. It tastes pretty sweet. It starts roasty and then ends with a coffee ice cream flavor. The aftertaste is sour. There's no bitterness involved, really. It tastes great for half a second and then it kind of falls apart. It's a good concept but it doesn't really work out. Still, I wouldn't turn one down.

Serving type: bottle

09-27-2010 18:53:19 | More by yesyouam

CM31

Tennessee

3.75/5  rDev +15%

05-25-2013 14:17:04 | More by CM31

fsck

Washington

2.5/5  rDev -23.3%

05-25-2013 03:07:41 | More by fsck

JackRB

Ohio

4/5  rDev +22.7%

05-25-2013 01:21:34 | More by JackRB

cosmonick

Indiana

2.5/5  rDev -23.3%

05-24-2013 02:13:32 | More by cosmonick

Turbo

Minnesota

3.5/5  rDev +7.4%

05-19-2013 22:26:46 | More by Turbo

UltimateLivewire

South Carolina

3.75/5  rDev +15%

05-19-2013 19:50:02 | More by UltimateLivewire

meetyouoverboard

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +38%

05-18-2013 23:51:03 | More by meetyouoverboard

Jlich32

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +22.7%

05-18-2013 16:25:28 | More by Jlich32

wac9

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev +15%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

what a wonderful beer the vanilla is there proably the best tasting vanilla i ever tasted loving it , i dont taste much coffee run and horde this beer pour black a wonderful black great taste great beer if you ever had winter bourban cask ale and loved it try this

Serving type: bottle

05-18-2013 01:43:15 | More by wac9

GinsuDave

Michigan

2/5  rDev -38.7%

05-17-2013 01:08:08 | More by GinsuDave

allisonastra

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +30.4%

05-16-2013 17:07:18 | More by allisonastra

bastu

Tennessee

4/5  rDev +22.7%

05-16-2013 12:34:29 | More by bastu

SmellsofMahagony

Texas

3/5  rDev -8%

05-15-2013 02:17:58 | More by SmellsofMahagony

jayhunter357

Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +38%

05-11-2013 17:46:57 | More by jayhunter357

Mullinger1980

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev +7.4%

05-11-2013 10:54:35 | More by Mullinger1980

In_Control_Mike

Massachusetts

4.5/5  rDev +38%

05-11-2013 03:36:02 | More by In_Control_Mike

ZEB89

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev +15%

05-07-2013 21:55:46 | More by ZEB89

tommyguz

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev +15%

05-07-2013 13:33:36 | More by tommyguz

badelsman

Minnesota

4/5  rDev +22.7%

05-05-2013 02:40:02 | More by badelsman

swingdjted

Ohio

2.34/5  rDev -28.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 2.5

Appearance: The name of the beer and its label made it an attractive and intriguing buy. The pour yielded a surprisingly late dark-tan or light brown head, which quickly turned into nothing but a ring, leaving no lace except the path where the beer came to my mouth. Black in color like cola, it allows almost no light to pass through when held up to the light.

Smell: cheap porter with vanilla extract, but also has a hint of chocolate stout aroma such as Young's Double Chocolate Stout or Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout.

Taste: It really does taste like someone took a cheap porter and tossed vanilla extract in after brewing, except with a thicker, smoother mouthfeel. Very sweet, and the coffee ("java") doesn't really shine through. Light carbonation. Somewhat curdled milk aftertaste, which means I have to eat and/or drink something else to get rid of it.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and silky; this and appearance are the beer's (relatively at least) strong suits.

It's just not that good. Buying was fun. Drinking was tolerable and inoffensive (at least not a drainer). That aftertaste though... no good, leaves me needing to replace the aftertaste with something else. I won't be buying more, but I'm still ok knowing I at least tried it, and I don't feel that I wasted money when buying this one.

Serving type: bottle

04-28-2013 23:24:11 | More by swingdjted

rolltide8425

Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -0.3%

04-25-2013 21:09:03 | More by rolltide8425

juicebox

Massachusetts

3.5/5  rDev +7.4%

04-23-2013 01:23:17 | More by juicebox

vitrael

Wisconsin

2.84/5  rDev -12.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 1 | overall: 2.5

A: Clear, dark brown with an off-white head. Not much retention or lacing.

S: Faint vanilla and coffee aroma. Not much else.

T: Pretty assertive vanilla flavor; the rest of the beer takes a back seat to it. Not a lot of coffee going on. Very mild malt and hop profiles resulting in extremely low bitterness. Sessionable but not delicious.

M: Thin, weak, dissatisfying. I expected a lot more from this.

Would not buy again.

Serving type: bottle

04-22-2013 23:08:58 | More by vitrael

mquinn919

Pennsylvania

3/5  rDev -8%

04-21-2013 23:47:06 | More by mquinn919