Beer From Big Pink: Porterton Pinker by North of the Bayou Brewery

 

The building at 802 Atlas Avenue here in Madison is painted pink and I love it and hope it never gets torn down to make way for an apartment building with 1st floor retail in my lifetime.

There, I said it.

It is so incongruous, not only in the industrial area in which it resides, but in Madison more generally. The 2-story pink tower makes it look like the stronghold of the John Waters Brigade commanded by General Divine, defending Madison from the hordes out of Waukesha to the east. It's a gaudy smack in the face to the strip malls and subdivided landscapes of the east side that sets neighbor against neighbor as they argue whether the building is truly a pink menace or more of a mauve masterpiece.

Whatever color it is and has been in the past, a number of places have called it home and all have been restaurants, to my knowledge. It was The Pig's Ear way back in the day. I believe it was an outpost of the CJ's supper club mini-empire when I moved to the area. That closed in 2006. Since then, in probably the wrong order, it's been Talula, Mexicali Rose, and Lagartos. In 2017, it looks like, North of the Bayou opened in the space, migrating from Butler Street, a couple blocks from the Square.

As best as I can recall, it's been known as North Of The Bayou Restaurant & Brewery since it opened but the brewery part didn't get up and running until a year or two ago. I have seen no mention of the brewery opening. No doubt this is partly due to opening during a pandemic or in its immediate aftermath. But its location on the far east side in a non-trendy neighborhood, far away from the thirsty throngs of Epic employees probably doesn't help it attract much attention.

 

It also doesn't help that their beer gets no mention on their Facebook page. I see bottles of Abita but nothing about their own beer brewed in-house. Not even a simple list of what's on tap. This is absolutely perplexing to me.

My Frau and I were there at some point in the past couple years and I was delighted to see that the brewery was finally producing beer. I recall having their Schwarzbier and finding it to be satisfactory. That is, it was no Kostritzer but it also wasn't bad. I think the Frau had an amber ale which I think I rather liked.

A friend of mine who cooks up beer at a different Madison establishment told me that North of the Bayou's brewmaster is named Frank. I was also given a crude description of him and was told that, when he's at the bar, he can usually be found seated to the left of the taps as you walk in. And that exhausts my knowledge of the North of the Bayou brewery.

I went there recently and bought some of their beer in a show of solidarity with an east side business and to give some love to a brewery that seems to get precious little from the local craft beer community.

To start, I sampled their Porterton Pinker, a robust porter. I'm not really sure what makes a porter robust. English porter has a long & glorious history. The style used to be a blend, used to be sour but now I think your average Englishman's porter refers to a dark brown, very malty ale. Here in the U.S., our porters are much darker with an emphasis on coffee and dark chocolate flavors. Perhaps a robust porter is even coffeeer and chocolatier, maybe more bitter from the very darkly roasted grains involved.

Pouring myself a glass, I was reminded that I needed to get my car to my mechanic as this stuff looked like motor oil. While I discovered later that the beer was a (very) deep reddish brown, it was an opaque black right after pouring. The Stygian brew came with a big tan head of frothy foam that proved to be in no hurry to go away. Eventually I found that the stuff was clear. Taking a whiff, I smelled dark chocolate, coffee, general roastiness, and something a bit fruity like a date. Pretty much what I'd expect from an American porter.

Taking my first sip, I found that the fizziness was on the mellow side. The body was medium-light with all of the scents being found in the taste. Coffee was most prominent while the dark chocolate was more subdued. There was also some malty sweetness and something a bit fruity like a dried date. Again, this is all standard American porter taste, as far as I can tell.

It took me a few steps before I realized that something was missing: that typical bitter, fuliginous flavor. Was my tongue playing tricks on me? Or did the brewer use this newfangled debittered black malt that I've heard tell of?

On the finish, the big coffee flavor persisted while some green/herbal tasting hops came in to add a touch of dryness and a smidge of bitterness.

This was an excellent beer. Those coffee and dark chocolate flavors just hit all the right notes for me. Not too sweet and the hops added balance while letting the dark malt tastes remain centerstage. I don't have a problem with the usual burnt/bitter flavor of American porters but I didn't miss them here. This was just really tasty.

Junk food pairing: Porterton Pinker is best served with a beef flavored potato chip. But since they're not all that common, you can substitute them with Mrs. Fisher's Dark Chips, a heartier, roastier take on the ordinary potato chip.