Tonight I’m up to my chin in freelance multi-language typesetting. I’m also watching for that second big snowstorm barreling toward the Chicago region. Time for a beer.

For disclosure: I bought this myself because it looked interesting. It’s Coffee Eugene, from Chicago’s Revolution Brewing. This is an extension of their Eugene, a nearly black porter named after labor activist Eugene V. Debs. The beer is, as noted on their website, infused with whole bean coffee from neighboring roasters: either Sip of Hope, Dark Matter, or Metropolis. As it turns out, this can I’m sampling has Metropolis coffee, as helpfully printed on the bottom of the can, along with the canning date of December 8. It’s listed at 6.8% abv, same as the base Euguene, and 28 IBU.

As I poured it for the photo up top, I saw a brown beer pour that became nearly black in the glass, with a spongy, thick head. The coffee nose is close to an espresso roast, helped along no doubt by the chocolate roast malts in the base porter beer.

I’m finding the taste has the coffee upfront, of course, but it’s almost equal to the roasty malts. There’s also some malt sweetness to go with the coffee taste. Just a little sweetener, otherwise, is straight black dark coffee. Its relatively normal alcohol makes this more drinkable. It would be a great substitute for after-dinner coffee, or that morning coffe Coca-Cola people are getting all hopped up about. And certainly one to keep alert when there are weather alerts coming in.