Sixpoint Brewery 3Beans - Brooklyn, NY

[PappyVanWise]

Keeping in the spirit of hearty beers during cold weather months, I submit 3Beans from Sixpoint Brewery of Brooklyn, NY.

I've seen this beer around in most stores, and Sixpoint has distribution in VA, DC, and MD.

Sixpoint came onto the scene for me about a year ago with their Sweet Action cream ale, and I'm interested in trying their darker stuff. The brewery has been around since 2004, but I think they only start distributing outside of New York in the past two years. According to our friends at Beer Advocate, this particular recipe is a Baltic Porter weighing in at a whopping 10% ABV and it has a strong 91 rating from the field.

Sixpoint beers come in four packs of cans, and the packaging is very informative. Instead of quoting the whole thing I'll just let you know that the three beans are Romano, Cacao, and Coffee Beans. The Cacao and Coffee are flavors you should easily recognize, the cacao husks are from Mast Brothers Chocolate and the coffee comes from Stumptown.

In an interview with The Boston Phoenix's Beer Advocate column Sixpoint's founder Shane Welch said of the Romano Beans:

"The third bean was infused in the mash, where high temperatures pulled out the starches, which were then converted to fermentable sugars thanks to enzymes in the barley malt. Why Romano beans? "We found that the Celts and Slavic tribes of Scandinavia and the Baltic regions used to make fermented beverages using beans as a portion of the mash," Welch explains. "Since the northern latitudes did not ensure a consistent, ample supply of barley, the inhabitants there used alternative starchy grains and legumes to boost the fermentability of the mash when making beer."

Hopefully everyone can try some during this long weekend.

Happy Drinking,

Eric

[SeanMike]

I'll check Ace tomorrow. I've liked Six Points' other stuff so far.

[DanielK]

Gilly's in Rockville has 5 other Sixpoint products, but 3Beans is not in the MoCo distribution system.

[JBag57]

Rustico in Alexandria had this on draft for a couple of days (probably only a sixtel) a couple of weeks ago, and it was quite good. My palate is not vey astute, but this was definitely a very smooth, balanced blend of coffee and chocolate/cocoa. One of the better "flavored" dark beers I have had recently. It did not seem to be as assertive on the roast front as the one or two "Baltic Porters" that I have had a chance to try (Dominion bottle being one I recall), but that was a good thing for me.

I realize that this may be something of a "tease" post, because I have not seen the 3Beans in the Sixpoint retail offerings in Virginia, either. If it does reach all of DC/MD/VA on the shelves, I think it would be highly worthy of a thread here.

As an aside, I have not been very impressed with most of the Sixpoint offerings that have hit the shelves in NoVa, prior to this.

[PappyVanWise]

Gilly's in Rockville has 5 other Sixpoint products, but 3Beans is not in the MoCo distribution system.

Seriously, I can't win when it comes to MoCo. 3Beans was available in abundance at Arrowine today, and it's also showing up in the system as available at Total Wine in the area. I know MoCo has some draconian liquor laws, do they forbid coffee/alcohol combinations altogether?

[DaRiv18]

Picked up the last 4 pack at Schneiders for $17. I thought the head was thick and had a nice nose, and was a pleasant brew. Wouldn't call it super quaffable, and it definitely packs a punch. Would say it was slightly more coffee-ish than chocolately, but a decent balance. But I did find it lacking in a finish, and could have had a deeper body, because at 10% ABV it is a show stopper and you might as well go all in.

[PappyVanWise]

Only managed to have one can of the four pack (13.99 at Arrowine) and hate to say it, but I had a hard time even finishing the one. This beer delivered a good aroma but not much in the flavor department. My guess is they got a little cute with the Romano beans, to the detriment of the coffee and chocolate. When it was cold out of the fridge, it was easier to drink. By the time I got to the bottom of the glass, there was a grittiness to it that the temperature might have been masking. For the second try, I'm going to drink it right from the red bull-type can and see if it changes the profile at all.

[TedE]

$14-17/4-pack?! Yikes. I've never been tempted to buy their beer at retail purely because of this pricing strategy, combined with the fact that I haven't heard overwhelmingly positive buzz about their offerings.

For those who have liked this one, what else does it compare to recently in the coffee porter/stout world? Locally I really liked the coffee version of 3 Stars' Pandemic Porter (draft only), and it sounds like this is comparable.

[PappyVanWise]

I tried this again last night, and what really turned me off from it this time was the bitter coffee taste. In comparing it to other coffee stouts, I can only guess that the oatmeal that is missing from this recipe counterbalances the coffee in the ones I've enjoyed. In the past year or two, I've only had the Founders Breakfast Stout lineup (Original, Kentucky, and Canadian) and this isn't even in the same ballpark.

We'll go with some lighter, and less expensive, for the next tasting.

[thetrain]

FYI - On tap at Galaxy Hut - sixpoint 3 beans chocolate coffee stout (10%) $9/pint, $7/goblet, $3.50/mini

[cjsadler]

Like VikingJew, I had hard time trying to finish one of these (thankfully I only bought a single). In fact, I poured half of it down the drain. At 10% abv it just wasn't worth it. Has a murky porter-ish flavor (not the roast of a stout) with some faint coffee and chocolate notes. Without much flavor, the booze becomes unpleasant. I have a hard time imagining anyone drinking this next to Founders Breakfast Stout and thinking 3 Beans is anywhere near the same level.

[ad.mich]

While you do taste a little coffee/cocoa on first sip, the bitterness totally overwhelms from then on out. This drank less like a porter than a dark IPA. Interesting experiment I guess and while I didn't hate it, but I certainly won't be running out to buy more.

Gotta agree with the comment above about Sixpoint in general though. The only one in their line I've really enjoyed is Bengali Tiger.

[DaRiv18]

Huh, tried another one and I don't think it is super bitter. I drink espresso often and I've had shots around town that are much more bitter/sour than this. I do agree it is bitter, but the finish isn't really there so I feel nothing really lingers except for a light bitter aftertaste. Kinda refreshing actually. But it's too boozy for sure. I'm not really a beer drinker so I'd like to explore some more classic styles of this genre to build a foundation.

[DonRocks]

I haven't tried this yet, but based on the above posts, I'm going to find a single bottle instead of a six-pack. This is an example of why it's important to "learn the bad along with the good" (and if you drink enough beers or wines, visit enough restaurants, etc., it's unavoidable - but still useful and educational).

[PappyVanWise]

I'm tempted to leave my two remaining cans by the curb with a "Free Beer" sign taped to them, but I think VABC would have some problems with my methods.

I think both Total Wine and Westover Market sell this individually.

[DonRocks]

I'm tempted to leave my two remaining cans by the curb with a "Free Beer" sign taped to them, but I think VABC would have some problems with my methods.

That bad?

Even so, I still think it's important to try all different types of beers in this forum. I'm learning a lot from this.

VikingJew you are TheMAN, and I think others (experts and enthusiasts only, please!) should not hesitate to join in with you as ringleaders. Ultimately, I'd love to have 5-10 Forum Hosts here just because diversity of palates and tastes is essential to really learning about this stuff.

I think anyone else who wants to ring lead should PM VikingJew and say so, and hopefully the leaders here will form a Group-PM chain.

[PappyVanWise]

Not that it's that bad, it's just not my taste. I like my stouts and porters more refined, and a 10% ABV that you don't enjoy isn't worth drinking.

But with snow in the forecast, wine will be the house beverage tonight.

I can keep my pace up until Tax day or so, then I'll need some help from the Rockwellian crew to keep things going.

Come Memorial Day, I'll be back up to schedule, but sticking to beer with Richmond area distribution.

[ad.mich]

It's not bad, it's just weird. Strongly boozy and bitter in a unrefined, homebrew sort of way... except you're paying $13 for 4 of them.

That being said, I'll remember this mostly failed experiment more than I will the 5000th overly hopped IPA I've had forced on me in the name of 'drinking regional'.

[jrichstar]

I think this is a very interesting beer and give credit to Sixpoint for trying something really different and, in general, succeeding IMO. First, the can design is really great as well as the "three bean" idea. I see it's classified on BA as a Baltic Porter. Though it seems more like a black IPA or Schwatzbier to me. Definitely not a stout as it's too thin in consistency. I agree that there's more coffee than chocolate in both the smell and taste. I found the third vegetal bean to help smooth out the overall profile, much the way a milk stout is not as bitter (which is more my taste). I did not find this beer bitter but balanced with the three beans interacting. The finish was long and I tasted that coffee-chocolate for awhile, in a good way.

[PappyVanWise]

According to Draft Magazine, this is one of the top 25 beers of 2013.  This is the second top beers of 2013 list I've seen, and they're mainly filled with limited and regional releases.

"Sixpoint Brewery // 3Beans // spice/herb/vegetable Beer
The chewiest, richest beer we sipped this year, 3Beans broods over the palate with intense darkness. Brewed with Romano beans (a cousin of the Kidney) for body, coffee beans for a java jolt and cacao beans for dark chocolate sweetness, the Baltic porter's elevated by espresso roast, bittersweet chocolate and dark fruit for an unrivaled, luscious sip; plus, all that rich flavor conceals a sly 10% ABV."

[treznor]

Normally I find Draft's lists to be reasonable enough (any list is going to have some quirks to it), but this list is pretty bad. Looks like they focused on just what was 'odd' and stuck with that. I've had a couple of the beers on the list (Dogfish 61, Bruery Batch 1000 Bryeian, Deshutes Fresh Squeezed IPA, Stone Dayman IPA), and a couple more breweries but not this particular beer (New Glarus, Firestone Walker, Boulevard, and Crooked Stave stick out in this category).

These just aren't the 25 'best' beers of the year. They might be 25 of the more interesting new beers of the year, though even that's suspect. I know 3Beans is fairly highly respected by many, so that's cool and all. One the other hand I did REALLY like Deschutes Fresh Squeezed. I'm not sure that others liked it as much as I did, but there's an intense citrus flavor to the beer thanks to the Citra and Mosaic hops they used. In general it'd be nice to get more Baltic Porters, since its a fairly interesting style (basically a cross between an English Porter and a Russian Imperial Stout, and lagered) that's underrepresented. Just not sure if 3Beans is it or not