Sometimes you don't need a fancy name, or even a fancy label, to really smash the ball out of the park.
The Kernel Brewery lives by this philosophy, with beer names that include creative masterclasses such as Table Beer, Brown Ales and Baltic Porter. Their labels are as plain as their names, with the same brown-paper-bag style across all their beers.
But this simplicity is stark contrast to the quality of their beers, which may sometimes be simple, but are generally exceptional. India Double Porter: Mosaic Sabro is no exception to this rule.
One of several manifestations of Kernel's India Double Porter range, with others including hop combos of mosaic/bramling cross, citra/ella, citra/galaxy and a few other variations. Out of them all though, mosaic/sabro comes out with the highest Untappd average of 4.18/5.
There's so much character in the aroma it's tough to actually describe. There's a roasted, smoky flavour that combines with a coffee smell, that's also a little bit sweet and nutty.
The pour is pretty thick, filling the glass nicely with a pretty hefty body and that allows those flavours in the aroma to grow massive. The flavours are a mixture of coffee bitterness initially, moving on into a chocolatey sweetness with a little of the hoppy bitter-sweetness as it mellows.
Aftertaste is rich, slightly bitter that flirts a little with sweetness without ever actually making it to being sweet. The silky smooth texture coats your mouth and leaves behind all of those flavours to really draw you in for more.
Simplicity is the name here. As far as label's go, it's more minimalist than a Swedish designer's living room. It's like The Kernel have taken a brown paper bag, ran it through their deskjet printer and slapped it on a brown bottle.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, in fact it's something that they've become known for. This simple brown paper label style is now synonymous with their beers, and despite being plain you notice them right away.
The contents of the label keep to this theme, just having the beer name (which is handily also the name of the beer style - talk about two birds one stone) on the front, with slightly more information on the back.
You can pick up this version of India Double Porter from Craft Metropolis, where you can also grab some of the other varieties of the beer with their various hop combinations.
If you want to explore more of The Kernel's range then you can check out their brewery shop for more deliciousness.
