Snowdrift Vanilla Porter

Bottle. Light vanilla and chocolate malt aroma. Dark chestnut brown with large tan head. Mild chocolate malt flavor with a hint of herbal bitterness. Pleasant enough - just extremely light.

Tap at Brink. Amber-brown, stained glass. Creamy beige head. The vanilla is huge and overpowering, really the only thing going on. Medium bodied, very easy to drink for the ABV, probably because it is so sweet. Too sweet to go back for more, not a quality offering. My score seems way too high.

12 ounce bottle from a Kroger. Pours a clear dark red color with a medium sized frothy brown head. Decent head retention. Aroma of vanilla, chocolate, roasted malts and faint hops. The taste is big chocolate and vanilla notes, roasted malts, faint coffee, caramel and a mild bitter hop finish. Medium bodied, fairly drinkable.

Bottle: Brown with a small tan head. Light aroma of roasted malt and coffee. The taste is mostly roast and coffee, but a little vanilla shows up. I like this, it fits the bill and is quite refreshing.

Not bad. Light vanilla notes mix with the dark chocolate-caramels of the base porter. easy drinking and unremarkable but still nice enough to drink. Dark garnet color, modest head.

Pours mahogany into a shaker. Tan head with good retention recedes leaving spot lacing to coat surface. Vanilla and roasted nut aromas. Medium bodied and dry with upfront vanilla turning to crisp nutmeat in the lasting earthy finish.

12 oz. bottle. Dark, nearly opaque, brown with a small, tan head. Butterscotch, burnt toast, and syrupy notes. Sweet up front, with roasty bitterness in the finish. Medium body, sticky, and a little grainy. Overall, this a lackluster porter; not unpleasant, but it lacks complexity and has a weak flavor and mouthfeel.

Bottle. Faint roasty malt and vanilla aroma. Deep mahogany with a small beige head. Chocolate, cola, and vanilla flavor. Light body, moderate carbonation.

Bottle: Poured a blackish with reddish edges, the head was a cream off white. The aroma is light but a bit vanilla. Taste is a chocolate, vanilla, gritty mess.

Pours a solid dark brown with ruby highlights and a smallish tan head that quickly dissipates to a cap. Smells of caramel and brown sugar with a bit of chocolate and vanilla. There’s a light bit of roast in the aroma with little to no hop presence. The flavor is sweet with a vanilla and caramel playing the lead roles. A little brown sugar and roast come in to support but the vanilla really overpowers everything else in the flavor. Little to no hop flavor or bitterness is detected. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a sweet creamy mouthfeel. I bought some Big Eddy Imperial stout a few years back and I was blown away. Since that time I keep trying their regular beers hoping to revisit the magic, but it just doesn’t seem to happen. There’s nothing really wrong with this beer, but for my tastes its too much vanilla and not enough porter.