One Well Brewing Sweet Water Street

One Well Brewing Sweet Water Street

Brewed By: One Well Brewing in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Purchased: 32oz Howler from One Well Brewing; 2015 (poured on 08/26/15)

Style/ABV: American Adjunct Imperial Porter, 7.1%

Reported IBUs: ???

This was, by far, the second best Porter/Stout I had on my trip to Kalamazoo. This beer deserves a nod and shot out, because it is really fucking good. The brewery isn't too shabby either. About One Well Brewing: 

One Well Brewing is a nano/micro brewery based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The brewery was founded by home brewers Chris O’Neill and T.J. Waldofsky, and currently features a 3-barrel brewing system. The tap house is warm and cozy, with board games and a bar. The place was packed an hour before closing, and the staff was friendly. My biggest regret is that I discovered this place during my last day in Kalamazoo...

The Sweet Water Street is an Imperial Porter brewed with donut holes from Sweetwater's Donut Mill, and coffee from Water Street Coffee Roaster. Coffee is my life force, so while in Kalamazoo I had a chance to visit Water Street Coffee Roaster twice. The coffee is solid, and is locally roasted. 

So good...

The Sweet Water Street itself pours into a dark body kicking up a couple of fingers of dense, tan-brown head. It looks like every other genero-Porter until you dig into the aroma and get that rich chocolate coffee cake smell. This kicks up espresso and hazelnut and lots of fresh coffee, but the coffee stays grounded in the cakey malt base. This hints at macaroons and candy bars, and suggests so much more than a straightforward coffee beer. 

And the taste lives up to the aroma's hype, and then some and more so. At whatever percentage this clocks in at (7.1%???), the malt body stands up to the strong coffee flavors. This has a cake-like body with chocolate malts, trailing malt balls on the back end, rich espresso, hazelnut, and liquid coffee cake. 

The mouthfeel on this is full and expansive, and this beer has depth and density. This squeezes all the money's worth out of the 7.1%, and the malt body does not go to waste. The palate is full-bodied, and this has enough layers to beckon complexity. It has good duration too...each sip lingers. You get a lot of straight Porter in the front, but by the mid palate this drops coffee and chocolate. The back end rounds out with earthy coffee notes, hints of macaroons, and malt balls. This cleans up nicely too...you would expect loads of residual sugars and you really get none of that here. 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Divine Brew on this. This is one of the best beers currently on tap in Kalamazoo, and you owe it to yourself to check this beer out. On top of that, One Well Brewing's other beers were good, and the vibe of their little bar is fantastic. Would definitely stop in again. 

Random Thought: The number one dark beer on my trip goes out to 18th Street Brewing...maybe more on that later.