Ritual Rivers Cocoa Coffee Porter
Review Date 10/27/2015 By John Staradumsky
What do you get when you mix four noses, two rivers, and a ritual together? Why a heck of a nice beer, actually. I’m talking about Ritual River Cocoa Coffee Porter from the Four Noses Brewing Company of Broomfield, Colorado. This is a collaboration brew between Four Noses, the Two Rivers Coffee Company and Ritual Chocolate.
Ritual River Cocoa Coffee Porter is a year round beer offered by Four Noses (or 4 Noses as they also call themselves). I don’t get their beer here in Georgia, but thanks are due to Dale Roberts of Colorado for providing a can for my beer drinking pleasure.
From the label:
The first impression of this ale starts with a beautiful aroma of Ethiopian Coffee Beans. The mahogany color can be misleading on how light and crisp this beer actually is. The coffee is present on the initial sip of the beer, but the flavor profiles are rounded out by a smooth cocoa flavor from the local cocoa nibs. The porter itself is brewed with roasted malts that work in perfect harmony with the nibs and beans.
Four Noses Ritual River Cocoa Coffee Porter has an alcohol content of 5.3% by volume with 25 IBUs.
Four Noses Ritual River Cocoa Coffee Porter pours to a dark brownish black (not opaque, lots of light comes through when held to my lamp) color with a medium head of very fizzy and short lived foam and a nose of light powdered cocoa. Taking a sip, the beer has a medium body up front, for my taste a tad thinner than I think should be here to support all the flavor. The coffee comes through next, black and bitter and coffee ground astringent and then the powdery cocoa all leading into a medium finish that balances a subtle sweetness with a bit of roasty malt.
This beer gets high marks for all the flavors going on and I think it could be really stellar with more body. To be fair, the brewery does mention they are going for a crisp lighter body here. As it is, the thinness detracts from the total experience. Would I buy it again, if I could? Yes indeed, certainly for the luscious coffee cocoa flavor. Not as often, maybe, as I would if it were fuller in mouthfeel, but buy it again I surely would.
Glad I tried it?
T
Would I rebuy it??
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled, Canned
(D)=Draft
