United Nations of Beer

Storm Coffee porter

by Gregory Knott
(Beer Delegate, NL, Canada)

Storm Coffee porter
Storm Brewing, NL, Canada

Instead of partaking in the regular Saturday night ritual of hitting the clubs, me and a buddy decided it best on our bodies and wallets to stay in and watch the hockey game.

Of course we needed something to eat. Pizza was the agreed upon choice. Then we needed something to drink. What goes best with hockey and pizza? Beer, of course.

Luckily my buddy lived very close to a liquor store. Intriguing. Instead of the common domestic brands we could regularly pickup at any corner store, we decided it best to be adventurous and check out something a little less ordinary.

Venturing into the liquor store, we made a direct line to the cooler in the back. He went left I went right and eventually we met back at the entrance. After looking around we both happened upon a new display and, looking at my friend, I knew he was thinking the same as me. "We're trying this stuff out."

We had stumbled upon a display for Storm Brewing, a small microbrewery which recently set up in downtown St. John's on the corner of one of the most famous streets in the country, George Street.

After looking through the brands and being very impressed and happy to see the six packs contained the famous and rare stubby bottles, we selected Storm Coffee Porter, which according to Storm is a seasonal ale, brewed using imported black malt dark roasted mountain-grown Arabica coffee beans.

Storm Brewing also produces Hemp Ale, Irish Newfoundland Red Ale, Island Gold Ale and Raspberry Wheat Ale.

After a small conversation with the checkout person about the speed which the specialty brands were selling, we made the short trek back to the apartment. We cracked open the first two stubbies of Storm Coffee porter and "cheers", we had our first taste.

The first swig was strong and it was not hard to discern how the beer got its name. But not unpleasant. The strong coffee taste was welcome. I am not always the most adventurous with my beer choices and I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed the flavour of Storm Coffee porter.

While I don't think I would be able to drink a lot without it being super cold, I certainly finished off my share of that six pack that night.

I was quite impressed with our selection and made a promise to myself to check out the rest of the specialty ales from Storm Brewing.