This is White Bay’s first beer with an adjunct, first dark beer, and first collaboration beer. And I think anyone would agree they’ve knocked it out of the park.
Right from the beginning, White Bay wanted to partner with their neighbour, The Little Marionette coffee roasters, to make a dark beer with coffee. They landed on Baltic porter as the base style, using a lager yeast to provide a solid but clean foundation to let the Ethiopian coffee shine.
Like a terrific filter coffee, there’s so much going on in this brew - fruity notes of raisins and prunes; sweet malt tones of burnt caramel and maple syrup; deeper flavours of blackened toast and rich, fertile earth - and yet it’s so ridiculously smooth. Its complexity, residual sweetness and dense texture make it stir up memories of warmth from the depths of your mind: Christmas markets with hot chocolate, caramel, and spiced fruit cake; espresso with crema that coats the whole mouth; an old country house with stone floors and a smouldering fire.
And for a subtle chuckle, google Little Marionette’s logo, then look at the logo on the front of this tin, and spot the difference. You’re welcome.
Mick Wust
Published July 1, 2020 2020-07-01 00:00:00
