Coffee porters and stouts are becoming increasingly common in the craft beer universe, so a beer has to do a lot to stand out from the crowd. This can be done by adding new elements, balancing flavors, or doing something completely off the wall. Three Heads Brewing bills the Java Sutra as a marriage between hops, barley, and coffee. Driving this point home is the fun illustration on the bottle.

From the 22 ounce bottle, the Java Sutra has the classic dark black color of a Porter with minor brown highlights. The light tan head leaves some good lacing on the glass, but goes away about half way down. Great fresh ground coffee aromas are mixed with sweeter roasted malts. There is some earthiness from the hops, but the malts and coffee steal the show.

There’s a good flavor progression from malt, to chocolate and then coffee at the start. There is some vanilla leading into a good bit of hops, followed with a coffee bitterness on the finish. The hop elements are nice, but when combined with the bitterness from the coffee it really takes away from the rest of the Porter elements.

The Java Sutra is good in concept but the hops and coffee didn’t work together. The malt and coffee worked very well, but either the coffee bitterness or hop bitterness needs to be reigned in. The flavors were also a little flat as the beer warmed. If you find this beer, are craving coffee and don’t mind the bitterness, go for it. Otherwise seek out another Coffee Porter.

Rating

79
out of 100