If there was ever an instance of being typecasted where it came to beers, I feel like Derbyshire, UK's Thornbridge might be a suitable candidate for that - whole essays have been dedicated to Thornbridge's then-groundbreaking Jaipur IPA.

And sure, it was indeed a storied and landmark beer that heavily shaped the UK craft beer scene and also remains the still independent brewery's flagship beer, but what about Thornbridge's Chiron, Halcyon, Kipling, Jamestown or Cocoa Wonderland, all of whom are veritable classics that have pretty much raised the standards for UK craft beers. With the best intentions, I'd say that Thornbridge is almost like having a McDonald's in the neighbourhood. Sure, you already know what's on the menu, and you've had the same Filet-O-Fish (read: Green Mountain) last week, the month prior, and last year too, but damn if it's reliably good. There's not much in the way of surprises but it definitely is consistent, and it might not blow your mind (as the Jaipur once did), but you know you're getting something solid.

The Thornbridge Hall estate.

I sometimes think folks even take Thornbridge a tad for granted - it's almost suffering from its own success. But I suppose that's what happens when the once shimmering starlet becomes an icon - I doubt anyone would fight me on calling Thornbridge an icon, really. Thornbridge today operates at a dazzling scale that maybe makes it hard to evoke the same excitement of fresh discovery in craft beer folk, it feels perhaps alittle more distant and less relatable - yet once again, who could accuse them of not doing the public service of making sure a solid beer is always available. Much of their early expressions have matched the fast developing craft beer scene in the early 2000's, and many of these have become classic bangers, yet none more so than Jaipur. But really, we ought to give the folks some credit (as if commercial success wasn't enough) - they're more than Jaipur, with their stable of core range beers all just as worthy of a revisit every so often.

For those unfamiliar with the story, we should for the sake of posterity do a quick recap. So here goes one more (much more concise and abridged) essay dedicated to Thornbridge's Jaipur - and then we'll head over to the Cocoa Wonderland; I am well aware of the irony, yet for those just getting into craft beers, I'll take one for the team.

The year was 2002, and Jim and Emma Harrison had just come into purchasing the sprawling Thornbridge Hall estate, a sizeable country home in Derbyshire, nearest to Sheffield. To celebrate their new home, the Harrison's would host parties, during which Jim, like any beer drinking Brit would do, would make sure there was a sufficient supply of cask aged ales on hand to satiate the guests. With a large enough guestlist, it made sense to simply purchase whole casks of ales, and this eventually inspired in Jim the idea to brew his own ales (that and his friend David Wickett of Kelham Island Brewery had offered to help him out with the brewery in exchange for Harrison doing some contract brewing for Wickett).

The practice, known as estate brewing, was not unheard of but certainly not nearly as popular as it was in the 17th and 18th century when living in country estates were more in vogue. And thus Jim would enlist the collaboration of his business partner Simon Webster to get this estate brewing back up at Thornbridge Hall.

Simon and Jim sure found the right guys for the job.

The two partners would hire two youthful brewing school graduates - one of whom you almost certainly might have heard of - Martin Dickie and Stefano Cossi. In a surprise to no one who is kept abreast of the UK brewing scene, Martin Dickie would of course go on to start BrewDog, another extensive UK craft brewer. Cossi and Dickie's early forays were pretty par for the course - they would brew exactly what they were hired for, to produce classic English ales.

But along the way - and this was just in the first year of Thornbridge - Dickie and Cossi would come up with the idea of blending the emerging wildly popular American style IPA with British sensibilities, the result of which was Jaipur, so named after the Indian city in which Harrison had gotten married. Jaipur brought a taste of the US to the British public, with its bold citrusy qualities and a much more fresh hoppiness, pounding at a higher ABV than anything else available. It was a flavour sucker punch that made waves in the UK, and became the touchstone from which American IPAs had made land in Britain. 

The beer, made with traditional British Maris Otter barley, was hopped with American hop varieties, very much still stuffed into a British cask, and topped out at 5.9% ABV (compared to the UK standard 3.8% Greene King IPA of the time), and despite being more pricey, became the talk of the town. The year was 2005, and this - as many craft beer geeks would contend - was the start of modern craft brewing proper in the UK. Dickie would of course leave fairly soon after to start BrewDog, where he'd continue to work on his American IPA ideas culminating in the flagship Punk IPA. In the background, craft brewing in the UK then was taking punch after punch, but Thornbridge had given them hope, and more importantly direction. Aspirant craft brewers now knew what worked, and what was needed of them. Some might even say Thornbridge saved craft brewing in the UK. To some extent certainly!

And so with all that said, it's time to put aside any more talk of Jaipur, and focus on what's at hand! The very enjoyable Cocoa Wonderland Chocolate Porter from Thornbridge!

This Porter has been brewed with Magnum hops, with a combo of Pale, Munich, Brown, Crystal, Wheat and Black malts, and has some cacao nibs added to it - as mentioned, it is a Thornbridge classic that should not be overlooked.

Let's get into it!

Beer Review: Cocoa Wonderland Chocolate Porter, Thornbridge Brewery

Tasting Notes

Colour: Espresso Black

Aroma: Heavy on the cocoa powder, it’s giving Coco Puffs cereal, with also a slight hazelnut praline edge to it. It’s rich, dense and somewhat nutty. It’s giving praline or Nutella, perhaps even a ganache. Just the softest touch of espresso and milk coffee.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, it’s lighter in a way that makes it feel much more approachable and easy. It’s not one of those super heavy stouts. Yet it retains a really full flavour. It’s rather singular note of coffee cream, yet it’s executed really nicely. The flavour of that is rich, distinct and very focused. It’s got a nice depth to it, and it carries on quite abit, with a fuller flavour. This makes a nice contrast with the medium-body that makes it very sessionable yet with a good presence and weight to it.

Finish: Little bit of char, some burnt cookies, as well as a gentle roastiness of Italian espresso. Nice clean finish, with a bit more mocha cream following up.

My Thoughts

What I've always liked about Thornbridge's Porter - well, first and foremost it's getting increasingly hard to find a Porter as opposed to a Stout - is that it's incredibly singular and distinct. You get this hit of creamy coffee - and really that's it. It's simple yet so precise, it's also bold and rich, yet at the same time incredibly sessionable, it's not heavy but not thin either. It's got all those confectionary creaminess that just makes it incredibly tasty - almost like a sweet dessert! It's approachable and easy going, nothing too over the top, and really not all that much bitterness - which really is my kind of Porter / Stout - without being heavily pastry laden or overly dense and cloying.

I also like that hazelnut and chocolate pralien nuttiness on the nose. A very nice and clean finish that's plush and luxurious. And again, just this really nice richness and depth, straightforward flavours that's bold and precise, it's sessionable and not heavy. Always hits the spot!