Video by Gabe Pocrass
This is not a statement, I promise. Nothing is in the mail for you, sorry.
This is the name of the beer, “Something Came For You in the Mail Today.”
This beer is an American Porter, it is 7 percent ABV, and it comes from Greeley, Colorado. The name of the brewing company is Wiley Roots Brewing Company and I must say, I had never heard of Wiley Roots until now, but I’m pretty impressed.
Upon further research, Wiley Roots was awarded a gold medal and bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2013 and 2015. They started in 2013, so they are very new to the craft beer world, and apparently, they’re doing pretty well.
Something Came For You in the Mail Today is a very unique beer, in a good way. It was really solid and fun to drink. I noticed right from the start that it was very dark, one of the darkest I’ve seen. It was pretty much black, except for a very small layer of brown on the outsides. Upon smelling it at first, I picked up on a bitter coffee smell. Upon tasting it, I also tasted bitter coffee, but boy was I wrong…
The main flavors I got from this beer were bakers chocolate, hazelnut and almonds. Those flavors really came alive once I got into this beer more. I still continued to get a slight coffee taste, but I think that was because this beer had a lot of bitterness (not hoppy bitterness) and dryness to it.
Also, the fact that this beer is a porter may have created those connections for me. The last flavor I picked up on was a slight sugar cane taste. I won’t say creamy, because it didn’t have a creamy texture, but I will say sugar cane or some type of vanilla bean profile. However, don’t mistake sugar cane for sweetness; it wasn’t that sweet which was good.
As I kept drinking it, the baker’s chocolate and hazelnut really stood out to me. I think the baker’s chocolate brought the beer a nice complexity that allowed the beer to truly personify. I know that’s a weird way to say it, but it kind of did.
The hazelnut seemed to stay pretty consistent throughout the beer, but I didn’t mind because it was well balanced with the chocolate. Also, the baker’s chocolate gave the beer a nice bitter-dry aftertaste, which fit the beer well. Overall, it was a very solid and unique beer. I give it an 8.3/10 and The Mayor of Old Town gives it an 8.9/10… But, I could see myself raising my score upon further “inspection.”
Collegian Beer Reviewer Gabe Pocrass can be reached online at blogs@collegian.com or on Twitter at @Gpocrass.
