Last autumn, when you could only get smooth, creamy, Real Ale Coffee Porter on draft, I named it one of my Top Ten Texas beers. This year, I was delighted to find it in bottles. I wasn't so delighted by the $9 price tag at the Bunker Hill HEB, but I gritted my teeth and paid up.
I was shocked to discover several bottles missing the other evening when I came home. Usually, I can put stouts and porters in the refrigerator with no fear of any disappearing. But this dark beer was very popular among the women of the neighborhood who were hanging out at my house that evening. They said it was less bitter than the other dark beers.
I agree that Real Ale Coffee Porter is exceptionally tasty. It's made with Houston's own Katz's Coffee. Whenever I drink coffee-flavored porters, like Kona Coffee Company's Pipeline Porter or Real Ale's Coffee Porter, I am reminded of Buzz Beer, the coffee-flavored beer that Drew Carey and his friends created on that hit comedy television show that ran from 1995 to 2004. The idea of a beverage that combined the effects of alcohol and caffeine seemed a lot more comical back in the days before Red Bull.
