Trying a new brew tonight from a brewery I have yet to try. I am always looking for interesting brews and I stumbled upon this brew. I thought ' Oh this sounds interesting and I should add it to my six pack'. Of course it did not hurt that there was pumpkin involved in this brew. I am trying my first beer from Evil Genius Beer Company, who are located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Area. Evil Genius Beer Company was thought up at Villanova University in 2008 and became a reality in 2010. I am trying a beer called Trick or Treat by Evil Genius Beer Company. Trick or Treat has an alcohol by volume or ABV of 7.8% and an IBU of 35. I am curious to see what is behind this chocolate pumpkin porter. This is my first porter on this blog, so I figure I might want to explain what a porter is style wise. Seeing that they created this like a Robust Porter, I should explain the difference in styles as well. A porter is a dark ale that was created around 1722, it is a blended style of three beers at the time: pale ale, new brown/mild ale and a stale sour brown ale. The beer had a full body and became popular amongst London workers called porters and that is how it got its name. A robust porter is a porter that is made with a dark roasted malt or barley to create a dark black color and include dark roasted flavors such as coffee, chocolate without a burnt finish.
Appearance of Trick or Treat
Taking whiff of Trick or Treat aroma, I notice one thing right of the bat. That is the chocolate and smoky aroma of the porter. After that I pick up the pumpkin aroma, which is not as strong as the chocolate or smoky aroma. In addition to these aromas there are two notes that I pick up faintly after swirling the beer around to release the aroma and they are nutmeg/clove. The color of this brew is dark and looks like a dark chocolate color to me. There is no light shining through the beer because the beer is so dark in color like a porter should be. The addition of chocolate does help and adds to the depth of color in this brew. If you were looking for the color of this beer on a SRM it would be a 26+ following the robust porter characteristics. The foam or head of the brew is a brownish white and thick, again following the typical profile of a porter.
Time to dive into the taste of this Robust Trick or Treat Porter. I am curious to see how the chocolate and the pumpkin come through in the beer. I took my first sip and primarily just picked up a chocolate note. I took another sip and first thing I noticed was a pumpkin/spice note followed by a dark roasted profile of the porter. The dark roast was the rich smooth chocolate profile of this porter. Trick or Treat in my opinion is a full bodied brew that is smooth and rich. I think that the chocolate and pumpkin are an interesting combination. I think this brew would go great with a chocolate crusted pumpkin pie that I create every year for thanksgiving, You would think that the chocolate is overpowering and you would not be able to find the pumpkin in the beer or the pie but you can find it in both. I think there needs to be more chocolate and pumpkin brews like this or more beers to add chocolate and pumpkin together.
Evil Genius Beer Company Trick or Treat Chocolate Pumpkin Porter
If you are a fan of dark brews you might want to give this brew a chance. In addition if you like pumpkin and chocolate together again you might want to drink this brew. This brew is a limited availability and something you should look for every fall, like I look forward to pumpkin season every beer year.
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Nice review! It sounds really tasty and I'll have to find it around here before all the pumpkin stuff is gone :)
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