Beast Mode

First things first, the name of this beer is awesome. Obligatory Marshawn Lynch reference (wait, he has his own clothing line now? That's a little ridiculous).

Okay, now that we have that cleared up, Beast Mode is an American Porter from Six Point Brewery whose tastings notes include "coffee, roast, hops, and caramel" according to their website.

For me, Beast Mode was a delightfully dry and crisp porter with an almost chewy malt backbone. It actually wasn't all that dark, and I definitely got more of the hop characteristics than some of their other notes. I first had this beer before a Radicals game it was delightful in the Wisconsin Spring weather. My experience with it this time wasn't as rosy, but the show must go on.

Prep/Cooking

Beast Mode's batter kept a lot of the characteristics I picked up in the beer - malty, chewy, kinda roasty. The bitterness of the hops dropped off, so it's an overall smoother flavor that allowed some of the subtleties to come out. Nothing crazy going on here, though.

Results

I'm always amazed at the color of some of these pancakes. I wonder what causees it. I should start paying attention to the color of a beer's head versus the color of their pancakes, because a beer that pours reasonably dark like this one can turn out pancakes that are pretty light.

Anyway, flavor-wise there wasn't a ton going on here, either, which isn't a surprise given the batter. The malt backbone carried throughout, and the pancakes had a bit of spice that I didn't pick up on elsewise, but the dryness of the hops came back and that's really not a pleasant flavor for pancakes.

The Decision

• Pancakes: No. In the right setting this beer can be a nice dry porter. As a pancake, dry anything is usually bad.
• Syrup: Yes. While the syrup didn't really do anything to bring any characteristics out, it did smooth over some of the rough patches of the pancakes, so I'd have to recommend if it you're going to try.

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