Triple Play Fan Pack: Bricks & Mortar

Bricks & Mortar is Left Field Brewery’s coffee porter, brewed with beans from Pilot Coffee Roasters. The Torontonian beer comes comes in 355mL cans and checks in at 6%.

B&M has a cracklin’ dry nose built around a wealth of espresso and roasted malt notes. It has a rich coffee bean flavour, a toasted (almost burnt) malt subtext, and just a whisper of sweetness to add a bit of balance. Bitterness is more than evident at the back, manifested as elements that evoke a cup of French roast.

 

Things I liked about B&M: strong coffee game; decent ABV, and robustly bitter finish. Thing I was less wild about: burnt malt elements, both in aroma and flavour. This beer could have been smoother and differently balanced. Still, as coffee porters go, I’d recommend this one based on its minimal sweetness alone. Left Field makes great beer, so I always feel like I’m splitting hairs when I get critical, but I’ve had better from them.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.