Beer review: Tanilla Porter (Knee Deep Beer Company)

I was driving up to Lake Tahoe over Labor Day weekend last summer, and stopped off at a Raley's in Auburn to pick up lunch. I usually like to peruse the beer aisle when I'm in "foreign" grocery stores, hoping to snag a hard-to-find favorite, or otherwise something unfamiliar but enticing.

Browsing the unusually deep selection, I came upon a label I didn't recognize, and whose tribal designs recalled those printed on Peet's coffee cups. On closer inspection I discovered a style and manufacturer I'd never experienced. Examining the bottle further, I discovered it was "Brewed and Bottled for Knee Deep Beer Company by Beer4U, Belmont, California." This amused me, because I'd just moved from Belmont after living there the previous two years, but had no recollection of either company.

It was an snap decision to purchase the Tanilla Porter, but finding the right occasion to crack it open took significantly more discretion and patience. I had more or less decided to hang on to the Tanilla until I could share it as an after-dinner beer with friends. Typically, when I select a bottle with the intention of enjoying it solo, I opt for something a bit more conventional, a known quantity, eschewing my one-of-a-kind bottles in favor of something I can more easily replenish.

Unfortunately, I haven't had too many dinners with beer-drinking friends in the last few months. First, I was occupied with moving-related tasks, and then I was busy with rehearsals for a play that ran in November, and then before you knew it, The Holidays were upon us...

For various reasons, I decided that part of my New Year's Resolution would be to stop buying beer for my home collection. Even though I decided this in December, I more or less forgot to stockpile "everyday" beers when I had the chance, and so I entered 2012 with only a few session beers on hand (mostly leftover bottles of Stella from a recent party), but several of these one-of-a-kind bottles. So it happened that the other night, when I was in the mood for a post-dinner tipple, I decided what the hell, and poured myself a luscious mug of sweetly aromatic Tanilla.

I must confess that the tasting experience peaked just as (no, not before) the first sip of rich porter coated the inside of my mouth. It's not that I didn't like the Tanilla, don't misunderstand me. It's just that the inviting smell which drew my lips closer to the glass was in itself the ultimate reward after months of anticipation. As it turned out, taste and feel were sensations I wasn't really in the mood for after delaying gratification for so long.

Now, perhaps I had built it up so much for myself that anything less than an instantaneous bufotenin surge would have been anticlimactic. Perhaps. All I know is that as soon as the Tanilla splashed onto my tongue map, the wait was over. Reality was upon me. It was, after all, just a beer.

As for getting into the specifics of mouthfeel, color, viscosity, and all that, I leave those details to other Beer Advocate reviewers, and will close by saying that this beer did not disappoint me. Far from it, actually. And if I learned anything from the experience, it's that I need to recruit a few friendly volunteers to help bring me back down to earth a little bit, and drink my beer with me in a more timely fashion, so I don't obsess too much about finding the perfect time to open this bottle or that one, like Sideways' Miles with his Château Cheval Blanc.

Heck, I wouldn't even mind reloading with a fresh bottle of Tanilla to share with friends -- in 2013, of course.