Way back in the day, Saturday night was hockey night in Canada! Which of the six teams in the league would battle it out on our 22″ black and white screen? Foster Hewitt yelling into the metal microphone “He shoots! He scores!” and the Canadiens PA system announcing ” les troisieme etoile, de turd star”. * That was the night us kids got chips and coke. A super salty snack to go with that super sweet calorie laden teeth rotting concoction Coca Cola. They told us ” things went better with Coke” and everyone believed them except our dentist. A sixties segue of sorts.
This Fine Balance porter pours dark dark brown with an off-white crown, it reminded me of Coca Cola. It has a super sweet roast malt aroma, caramel and vanilla in abundance, kinda smells like Coca Cola. The first taste is super borderlining on sickly sweet, Cindy Lou Who sweet. Tastes like maple syrup beer. No it’s more like an A&W root beer sweet. No that’s quite right either. FB tells us this has caramel, cacao nibs, vanilla and lactose. I think we’ve just discovered what is quite possibly the most guarded secret recipe in the world because this beer tastes just like Coca Cola.**
Yep, it’s Coca Cola sweet with a watery Cola countenance. This beer could well be the inspiration for Hardy Boys book #67, The Case of the Missing Porter.*** Not quite the fine balance I was hoping for, some porter to balance the sweet would have made it not so sweet, which would have been sweet. A big swig yields the same only more of it. It’s a dessert beer after all, but too much vanilla and caramel, not enough roast malt, makes it too sweet to call it a treat.
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