Originally Posted by
devildeac
Snowdrift Vanilla Porter-Leinenkugel Brewing
I am not a big Leinie fan but this was a surprisingly good trader from CameronBornAndBred at our last Brunchgate. This one really fooled me as the bottle smelled like gingerbread and I thought these folks had discovered a new technique of imparting a great smell onto an inert object but then I remembered that the sticky feeling to the bottle was a JuJu Ginger he had shattered in his cooler while traveling back from Virginia over the Thanksgiving holiday so I had to discount that in my initial impression of the actual bottled beverage
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Now for the beer review. Poured a clear, dark brown with a small tan head. Nose is coffee and cocoa but the tastes are moderately strong vanilla with a bit of cocoa and oak. No booze and no barrel aging. Low bitterness with no discernible hop presence (not a bad thing), guessing IBU around 30 and the ABV is 6% on the bottle. This would be fine with any chocolate or caramel desserts or bread pudding or by itself. Breckenridge Vanilla Porter sets the standard in this category but I would sip another one of these easily if offered again.
Agreed on the review. I hadn't seen this one before so I bought a sixer. I like Leine's for what they are, but I wouldn't usually include one in a trader..this is one that stood out well enough to make the selection. Bummer about that gingerbread brew...it wasn't a Ju Ju, it was a Bison Organic Gingerbread ale and it was mighty tasty. I bought 2..one to trade and one to drink. Instead, in the end, I bought one to drink and one to sacrifice to the "listen to your girlfriend" gods as she told me it looked like I was carrying to much stuff to the car.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."