It’s 10am and I dropped off Molly at Groomingdales, which I highly recommend if your pets need some love here in Austin.  On my way back home I decided to do a pit stop at Thunderbird Coffee.  But I didn’t come here to drink a cup of joe, but rather to drink a Vanilla Porter Ale from Breckenridge Brewery in CO.

At first the pour into the chilled pint glass didn’t seem to surprise me.

This beer is not having a nice day and was really tame when I poured it, unlike other porters which have some moderate carbonation.  Beer in the morning is a different experience.  The sun must be angled well enough to turn this beer into a spectrometer, identifying the ruby highlights.  *note* this is definitely not crimson like some have cataloged:  Must be an Aggie who writes on BeerAdvocate.  To say this beer is a light crimson kind of defeats the purpose of using the word crimson.  Holding it up to the sunlight pouring through the front of the cafe, I definitely saw ruby hues.  Swirling the beer around in the pint glass, it sure has some legs on the glass.

As my nose kissed the pint glass, the aroma was very light.  I inhaled a hint of hops and went with a swig, catching hints of banana and of course vanilla.  The porter was light, not chewy.  High carbonation burst, which would explain why others saw tremendous head when pouring this beer, but the barometric pressure and chillness of my pour made this beer calm.

After letting this beer warm up it certainly blossomed with flavor.  No diacetyl was evident and fruity esters were extremely low.  I even had a hint of grapefruit.