Two Brothers Brewing Company- Red Eye Coffee Porter: TGBOAT Tasting (Part 3)

At this point bottles are starting to gather on the table and festivities are in full swing.  We are deep in conversation in regards to Craft Beer as well as a host of other topics.  I am in heaven.  I have been truly blessed to have such amazing friends and I enjoy nothing more than being surrounds by great friends and great Craft Beer.  I have met and known many people from all walks of life but it seems as if I have never met better people than those that truly enjoy Craft Beer.  There is something about the enjoyment of this liquid art form that brings out the best in people or brings the best possible people out from the shadows.  Plain and simple, I love my Craft Beer friends…better yet, my Craft Beer family.  After eliminating a couple of Cigar City brews I decided to pull out a beer that I have had sitting for about a year now.  It has been resting peacefully on the bottom shelf of my refrigerator door and I couldn’t think of any better time to bust it out.  It is Two Brothers Brewing Company’s Red Eye Coffee Porter.  I found this brew about a year ago at Cardinal Wine & Spirits in Shorewood, IL.  From what I understand, this beer was only brewed once and it was released at the end of 08’/beginning of 09’.  I have heard great things about this brew from those that got a chance to try it when it was released, I’m just hoping that it’s still holding steady.

Two Brothers Brewing Company classifies this brew as a Coffee Porter and they describe Red Eye Coffee Porter as, “Red Eye Porter is a marriage of two of our favorite things: big beers and dark roast coffee. Red Eye starts with a 9.3% ABV Imperial Baltic porter recipe that can easily stand on its own. Then we loaded it up with 100% organic, fair trade coffee beans that were roasted about 3 miles from the brewery. The dark roast coffee beans were still warm from the roasting process when they were added to the beer. The result is a wonderfully rich chocolate and coffee aroma, with nice coffee and black malt flavor, and a soft clean finish. EYES OPEN!”

Red Eye Coffee Porter pours a chestnut color with ruby edges with a light brown head.  The aroma is very faint coffee smell with dark chocolate, dark fruit and caramel dominating the nose.

From what Steve and Melissa said, the beer had lost some of that fresh roasted coffee flavor and that it wasn’t as strong as when it was originally released.  I had heard from quite a few people that Red Eye Coffee Porter was one of the best of the style ever made.  Obviously, I would have much preferred to have this brew fresh when it was released but I figured that maybe because of the 9.2% ABV that it might have held up.  Red Eye Coffee Porter had a very greasy truck stop black coffee flavor with touches of black licorice, dark fruit and dark chocolate.  Red Eye was good but based on what I was told I could only imagine how amazing this brew was two years ago.  I am thankful that I did get to try this brew and share it with great friends.  For our sake, maybe Two Brothers will bring this back from the dead and grace us with the opportunity to enjoy this brew once again.  For now, I can only hope.

ABV: 9.2%

Glass: Midwest Brewers Fest Sampler Glass

Verdict: Buy A Twelve Pack