Pulpit Rock Malawi Pour-Over

It was on September 3 that Jason and I went to Decorah (not "Deborah", cut that out, auto-correct!), Iowa, visited their two breweries, and brought home beers. I didn't open up the final growler until the other night, and as I gazed on it sitting in wait in the fridge, I wondered. Why did I put it off for so long? Why did I leave it sit and choose other beers before it. There must be a reason, there must....but what?

Pulpit Rock Malawi Pour-Over. 6.8% ABV. 34 IBU. Pulpit Rock Brewery, Decorah, Iowa. Part of the series of coffee baltic porters done in collaboration with a local roaster.

Solid darkness, rich brown head of foam, perfectly impenetrable.

In the nose: earthy, rich, chocolate and coffee. Slightly on the sweet side. Quite nice.

In the mouth: Mmmm. Light fruit, cherries and berries. Creamy and full-bodied at once. Lush, dense, delicious. Smooth. Did I say "smooth"? Oh, so, very, good.

Epilogue: This was my second beer of the night, which I opened around midnight. The beer was so very tasty that I simply could not stop myself from emptying the contents of the growler into the glass, and all the way down the ol' gullet. I didn't get to bed until some time later, and woke up a mere four hours after, and was utterly unable to return to slumber. I had forgotten a lesson I learned many years ago when I finished off a Town Hall Coffee Stout late at night and neglected to consider the effects of so strong a dose of caffeine in my beverage. This, of course, is why I kept rejecting from inclusion in the nightly reviews. It's a lesson I forget at my own peril. Mornings, afternoon, early evenings, that's when you drink the coffee beers, Al, not after midnight, or
2, 3 am!