#maltiness

Many porters and stouts have a naturally coffee-like hint to their flavor but this can't really compare to those that use actual coffee as an ingredient in the brewing process. Harpoon's El Triunfo is one of the most coffee-laden coffee porters I've had this far. It pours a deep, dark color like black coffee and gives off a strong aroma of roasted coffee beans with an edge of dark chocolate. The flavor also bursts with coffee of the black variety. No cream or sugar here. It has a nice bitter, almost astringent quality that perfectly compliments the smooth, almost stout-like bready maltiness of the porter beer itself. The coffee used to make this beer is fair trade, sourced by Equal Exchange and comes, using sustainable farming, from the El Triunfo biosphere in Mexico, a large protected area of mountainous cloud forests and lowland rainforests. So this is no lowest common denominator factory farmed coffee in this porter. The fact that Harpoon took the time to get some of the most interesting and somewhat exclusive coffees to make this beer definitely shows in the taste. The biosphere and the conservation efforts that go on there get some publicity among beer drinkers and the beer drinkers get a great brew in return. I'd say that's a win-win situation.