Harpoon Brewery Dunkin’ Coffee Porter

Here’s the thing about snobbery: It’s surprisingly easy to get heavily submerged in the trappings and intricacies of a complex subculture without recognizing those same trappings elsewhere.

Case in point: Me and beer, vs. me and coffee. Obviously, as an alcohol writer, I’ve developed a taste for some of the finer things that the genre has to offer. I’ve been called insufferable in online reviews for long-winded tasting notes on beer or whiskey, and likewise told that I’m hopelessly out of touch with how “regular folks” consume those drinks. That’s sort of the nature of the job.

But at the same time, you’d think that experience would stop me from looking at intense coffee aficionados with a quizzical eyebrow, and … I must confess, it really doesn’t. Despite having a palate that is pretty well-attuned to beer, I can’t bring myself to expect the same sophistication from coffee, the beverage that so many start their day with the world over. That isn’t to say I don’t appreciate a good varietal pour-over from time to time, because I certainly do. But I also happen to be perfectly happy on a daily basis with cheap drip coffee from fast food restaurants, or pods from the Keurig. If anything, it almost feels like an advantage—I don’t need the “good coffee” to be happy! Look at all the money I’m saving, Mom!

In this, I’m hardly in the minority, and so I can only imagine that the “average” beer and coffee drinker will be pretty hyped about the idea of a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee porter, right? It’s certainly a collaboration that seems to make sense, bringing together Harpoon, one of the country’s oldest (and 18th largest) craft breweries, with Dunkin’ Donuts, perhaps the biggest “coffee and donut” chain in the world. They’re two companies known for approachable products that eschew much of the “artisanal” imagery you’d find at a smaller craft brewery or independent donut shop. It’s craft beer homogeneity, meets donut homogeneity.

So let’s get to tasting, then.