Beer of the Weekend #915: Polecat Porter
When you have a Guinness imperial pint glass and it’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend, you use it with or without Guinness.
The beer of the weekend is Polecat Porter, brewed by the Big Grove Brewery of Iowa City, Iowa.
The color is non-opaque black. A finger of tan, bubbly, buttery head leaves a thin collar and skim.
The aroma is dark and roasted. There are scents of coffee-like roasted malt, chocolate, caramel, and burnt and brown sugar. There are also hints of molasses and black licorice.
The first couple sips are more roasted than the aroma led me to believe and is complemented by a roasted bitterness that settles on the tonsils, but it is not as prominent in subsequent sips. It changes sip by sip, swinging between being more of a brown ale (toasted malt, caramel, and cherry licorice) and stout (roasted malt and chocolate). It’s earthy and a touch metallic, and it also has a touch of pepper. There is a hint of black licorice. I can’t recall the basics of the porter-stout debate, but this is exactly what I think of porter: too much like a brown ale to be stout and too much like stout to be brown ale.
Fun facts about Polecat Porter:
• Style: Porter.
• Price: $18 for a 64-ounce growler fill at the Big Grove taproom in Iowa City. The bartender told me they sold six-packs of 12-ounce cans for cheaper ($11), but I was already there with my growler. It’s better to reuse than recycle too.
• Alcohol content: 6.5 percent ABV.
• Calories: 195 per 12 ounces (estimate).
• The brewery’s menu on Facebook (the go-to place for Big Grove’s beer lineup because its website does not seem to be a priority) says Polecat Porter is brewed “in honor of the Hawkeyes’ legendary play.” It’s the first play in this video:
• I have an Irish flag and put it up in my room every March in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. It’s not the best Irish flag—the orange is way off and perhaps the green is too—but it works. However, it does not give me good luck. I’ve been having nightmares ever since putting it on my wall last week.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
The beer of the weekend is Polecat Porter, brewed by the Big Grove Brewery of Iowa City, Iowa.
The color is non-opaque black. A finger of tan, bubbly, buttery head leaves a thin collar and skim.
The aroma is dark and roasted. There are scents of coffee-like roasted malt, chocolate, caramel, and burnt and brown sugar. There are also hints of molasses and black licorice.
The first couple sips are more roasted than the aroma led me to believe and is complemented by a roasted bitterness that settles on the tonsils, but it is not as prominent in subsequent sips. It changes sip by sip, swinging between being more of a brown ale (toasted malt, caramel, and cherry licorice) and stout (roasted malt and chocolate). It’s earthy and a touch metallic, and it also has a touch of pepper. There is a hint of black licorice. I can’t recall the basics of the porter-stout debate, but this is exactly what I think of porter: too much like a brown ale to be stout and too much like stout to be brown ale.
Fun facts about Polecat Porter:
• Style: Porter.
• Price: $18 for a 64-ounce growler fill at the Big Grove taproom in Iowa City. The bartender told me they sold six-packs of 12-ounce cans for cheaper ($11), but I was already there with my growler. It’s better to reuse than recycle too.
• Alcohol content: 6.5 percent ABV.
• Calories: 195 per 12 ounces (estimate).
• The brewery’s menu on Facebook (the go-to place for Big Grove’s beer lineup because its website does not seem to be a priority) says Polecat Porter is brewed “in honor of the Hawkeyes’ legendary play.” It’s the first play in this video:
• I have an Irish flag and put it up in my room every March in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. It’s not the best Irish flag—the orange is way off and perhaps the green is too—but it works. However, it does not give me good luck. I’ve been having nightmares ever since putting it on my wall last week.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B.
