Beer of the Week: Populuxe Ate2Four Plum Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few months back, Populuxe brewed a plum porter which I was very much enamored with. Since it was just about plum season, I offered them up the plums off my trees, which they took me up on. In exchange for the plums, the kind folks at Populuxe let me name the beer. I bounced around the names for a while and I finally decided to name it after my house number – 824. Being the deranged mind that I have, I couldn’t just use the number, so I decided to engage in a bit of word play – hence Ate2Four. Hey, it may not be the best name, but I get a kick out of it, and my goal in life is to crack myself up, so tough.

The beer pars dark black with strong notes of chocolate and coffee on the nose. The beer starts out with some bold but not overpowering flavors of chocolate and coffee on the initial taste with a strong malt character. Those flavors linger before finishing with mild balancing notes of dried fruit and raisins that linger for quite a long time. Those notes are there but are not dominating the beer, so you may not recognize them unless you knew they were there. This beer is very well balanced and is not your typical fruit beer – the plums compliment the roasted coffee and chocolate notes of the beer, acting as a balancing flavor rather than a dominant one in the beer. Think of this one as a really nice brown porter with a supporting plum flavor instead of a plum beer that is porter based.

The other day, this beer was poured at Brew at the Zoo. The keg kicked in about 1 hour 15 minutes – helped along by it being the most interesting beer being poured at the list and was one of a small handful of dark beers being poured. For those who did not get to try this beer, it may be making a comeback in the fall. Check out the Populuxe Facebook site for their current tap list.

I am very happy to have contributed to the success of this beer and yes, I am biased, but the Ate2Four version of the Plum Porter was every bit as good as the original, copying its brother with a perfect 5 Xerox out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Experimental Sour Brown Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few months back, Populuxe brewed a small batch of their Brown Porter as a sour beer. I tried it and thought that it was one of the better sours available and, for a while, thought it was the best beer that Populuxe brewed. It somehow got buried in my notebook and did not make it onto the blog as a result. It is time to correct that and oh, did I mention that the beer might be available on tap soon?

The beer pours medium brown in color with notes of chocolate and roasted malt dominating the nose with hints of light sour in the background. The first sip produces medium notes of chocolate and coffee at the front of the palate, yielding to malt and light English yeast in the middle before finishing off with a mildly sour/sweet malt finish. The sour lingers, not in a lip puckering way, but in a light and pleasant experience, almost like a sourball candy. The sour and chocolate flavors become slightly more pronounced as the beer warms, but neither ever become too heavy and dominate the beer. This isn’t a Flanders Ale – it has a great richness and complexity that you would expect in a porter and just enough sour to let you know that there is something beyond the porter going on here. The sourness integrates well with the malt character of the porter, leaving you with a complex and interesting drinking experience. The Experimental Brown Porter would be a good way to get someone who doesn’t like sours to try one – a number of friends who fall into this category tried this beer and liked it.

Populuxe Experimental Sour Brown Porter bellies up to the counter with a stellar 5 penny candies out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Populuxe Brown Porter

By Iron Chef Leftovers

A few months ago, I managed to review the 3 fruit porters from Populuxe and just realized that I never actually posted the review for the base Brown Porter. In an attempt to correct that, here is that review.

The beer pours almost jet black in color. Notes of chocolate, coffee and roasted malt appear on the nose in such a way that it almost reminds me of a cappuccino. The initial sip yields some surprising yeast character before moving to the heavier flavors – notes of chocolate and lightly roasted malt dominate before yielding their position to a slightly sweet, long and pleasant coffee finish that is not terribly overpowering or bitter. As the beer warms, a light of hop character becomes noticeable – slightly floral and slightly bitter but well-balanced in the beer.

The Populuxe Brown Porter is not currently available on tap at the brewery, but it will hopefully be back soon as the season turns from summer to fall.

The Populuxe Brown Porter carries your bags in spectacularly with 4 bellhops out of 5.

Iron Chef Leftovers and the Three Beers

…and now for something completely different…a beer review in the style of a fairy tale.

One day Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks was wandering through the concrete forest of Ballard and he stumbled upon a small brewery on a path called NW 49th street. Curious, he stopped in to find a friendly looking barkeep pouring 3 different porters, all infused with fruit. Thirsty from his long walk, Iron Chef Leftoversly-locks decided to taste all 3 beers.

First, he tried the Populuxe Raspberry Brown Porter. There were strong notes of raspberry with hints of chocolate on the nose when he smelled the beer. Upon tasting it, he noticed slightly tart raspberry that lingered for a long time before joining up with lots of chocolate flavors in a very long finish that kept going and going. Our hero thought “this beer reminds me of eating a raspberry filled chocolate and it was really tasty. I declare this beer received 3 ‘this porridge is too hot’s’ out of 5.”

Next, the friendly barkeep poured Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks a Sour Cherry Brown Porter. Our hero took a whiff of the brew and noticed mild notes of cherry and chocolate, reminding him of chocolate covered cherries. He took a swig and noticed the beer was chocolate forward, with an almost milk chocolate like characteristic, before it moved on to a long cherry finish with a light tartness to balance the light sweetness of the malt. He thought to himself “the finish on this beer reminds me of eating fresh cherries with all of the juice. I can almost picture myself eating a handful of cherries and a chocolate bar while drinking this beer. I give this beer a 4 ‘this porridge is too cold’s’ out of 5.”

Finally, the friendly barkeep poured out hero a Roasted Plum Brown Porter. “Roasted plum?” Iron Chef queried. “It is a traditional Czech jam of caramelized plums that were used in the beer,” the friendly barkeep replied. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks raised the glass to his nose and notices very light notes of plum and caramel with overtones of chocolate and malt in the foreground. Upon sipping the beer, he noticed light notes of sugar with hints of dark caramel in the foreground before moving on to light notes of chocolate and malt before finishing with a slightly sweet jam taste that lingered at the back of the palate. As the beer warmed slightly and more was consumed, our hero began to notice notes of dried fruit, raisins and plums becoming more noticeable throughout the beer, in a very subtle and pleasant way, complimenting the chocolate notes. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks declared “this beer is subtle and delicious, with lots of character without being overpowering. I will rate this beer 5 ‘this porridge is just right’s out of 5.”

Just then Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks wife came through the door, Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks ordered a Plum Porter and a Blond (for Mrs. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks) from the friendly barkeep and they went outside to drink their beers in the warm Seattle summer evening.

The End.

Roll Credits…

The Actors:

Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks……….. Iron Chef Leftovers
Mrs. Iron Chef Leftoversy-locks……… Mrs. Iron Chef Leftovers
The Friendly Barkeep………Jiri Zatloukal
Cast of Thousands……… Peter Charbonnier, Amy Besunder, Judy Scarcia
Prince Charming………Johnny Depp
Four Headed Alien………Betty White
And introducing………… Populuxe Brown Porter as Raspberry Brown Porter, Sour Cherry Brown Porter and Roasted Plum Brown Porter

This has been a cheapseateats.com production in association with Populuxe entertainment.

No animals were harmed in the making of this production, but there were a couple of cute standard poodle puppies on set. Plenty of beers were consumed however.

Editor’s note: All 3 beers were based on the same Brown Porter with the fruit added at the very end of the process. These beers were only done in 5 gallon batches, so watch Populuxe’s Facebook page to see when they are on tap.