Go collab yourself

Today's beer is a coffee porter, brewed by Third Barrel for TwoSides, the beer-brewing arm of Brickyard the pub. It's a collaboration with Grindstone, the coffee-brewing arm of the same business, which operates an adjacent café, and that's the name they've given the beer.

An enthusiasm for coffee shines through in the labelling: we're told it was roasted at Dublin roastery Blind Monkey, and is a combination of Santa Izabel from Brazil and Santa Monica from Colombia. I'm a little sceptical about the variety specifics mattering much when they're used in a beer, but if it means the creators had some extra fun designing the recipe, then I'm fine with that. There's a bit of heft to this, at 5.8% ABV, and it's an attractive, shiny, vinyl-black.

There is something a bit different about the aroma here: it's not just coffee. There's a nuance of tart red berries and roast chestnuts. The nutty side is very pronounced in the flavour: dry and savoury, rather than sweet. There's a not-unpleasant hint of fried onion, and then a herbal bitterness, which might be hop related, but equally could be the coffee again.

This is certainly no ordinary coffee porter, and anyone looking for the straight-up coffee-beer experience will be disappointed. Indeed, even the beer side of that equation is lacking. This has the creamy feel and light carbonation of good porter, but I didn't find much by way of chocolate or dark malt. It's still enjoyable, however, in its own odd way. I'm not in a position to say if the coffee is well represented in the flavour, but it certainly makes a singular and distinctive contribution. If coffee porter is your thing, here's a fun twist on the norm, which is still a very decent beer.