People’s Pint Brewing Co. Brown Beagle Baltic Porter is a collaboration with David Green. Available at the brewery for $8.00/500ml bottle.

I’m propping up the bar, talking to Pietro and Ang, waiting for a call with the publishers. I tell them I’m thinking about just reviewing things again; back to basics you know? It’s a long afternoon and by the time I settle up, this has found its way into my horrifically abused Granite Gear backpack. 

Some of the best offerings from People’s Pint don’t really work on draught, so there’s a limited audience for them. Surfer Rosé is bespoke for Bossanova and the Tabula Rasa IV  is brilliant, but you can’t put a Brett table beer on a draught line without causing a lot of problems later. What this tends to mean is that these offerings are sometimes overlooked. So here I am, 30 degrees on a Saturday drinking a Baltic Porter to Portobello Belle by Dire Straits. 

It’s a bit of a stray dog. Collaboration brews between breweries tend to be excuses to get together and drink, and the results are nearly always reflective of that being the primary intention. A homebrewer getting to do a pro-am collaboration is going to TRY. Baltic Porter is a niche I don’t believe I’ve seen since Barry Pletch used to work for McAuslan or Les Trois Mousquetaires on LCBO shelves. 

This 8.6% Imperial Black Lager leans a little towards very dark brown and I wonder, given the name Brown Beagle how much of this is historical throwback. I’m struggling to describe the nose as anything other than “deep” off the bat. The label suggests that it’s going to be dark chocolate and cherry, and while I get the latter, the cherry comes through with a touch of acid, black forest cake if the cherries were sour. There’s a touch of smoke and licorice. On the palate there’s a sine wave of a journey. The dark stone fruit runs on a rail from tip of your tongue right to the swallow, but an underlying rye spice and hop bitternes pulls the carpet out from under you mid palate and then accedes to dominance drying out the finish. It widens and then contracts, with a salivary finish.

This is entirely the wrong season for this beer, which is not doing it favours. It’s like bringing out Christmas Cake at a Barbeque. Sophisticated Christmas Cake, though. 

Did You Buy This Beer?: My best guess is maybe. 

Knowing What You Know Now, Would You Buy This Beer?: Yes, I would. I purchased from People’s Pint a couple of times during lockdowns and all of their products have been good. I think if you were going to order this from them, you’d want to hold onto until colder weather. The Tabula Rasa IV would be excellent drinking on a day like today. 

Did You Finish It?: Although I like it, I’m probably going to chicken out. It’s weightier than the temperature in the apartment will withstand.