Not every beer needs to be a hazy juice bomb, and Adroit Theory Brewing Company clearly knows it. Revenge of the Damned is the darker, more contemplative sibling in this week's lineup, an English style porter that trades tropical fruit for roasted depth, and does it with unsettling artwork of a skull staring back at you from the can.
This one is conditioned on Cubano roast coffee and cacao nibs, and Adroit Theory has updated the base recipe following the success of previous malty efforts, adding extra coffee, vanilla, and lactose to round out the roasted malt and erase any lingering bitterness. The result, according to the brewery, is deceptively drinkable and dangerously delicious, which sounds like a warning label that should probably just be printed on the can.
Full bodied and roasty is the general idea here, the kind of porter built for the specific job of being the last beer you have after everything else is finished. Double dry-hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe, and Amarillo, it's a reminder that even a dark, coffee-forward beer can still make room for a bit of hop character if the brewery feels like it.
Purcellville, Virginia isn't exactly known as a coffee-and-beer crossover destination, but Adroit Theory has built its whole identity on taking big creative swings, whether that's an apocalyptic hazy IPA saga or, in this case, a nightcap stout dressed up in horror movie branding. It's the same brewery, just wearing a different mood.
Revenge of the Damned lands Thursday on draft and in cans. Perfect, as the brewery puts it, for ending a day after being out in the cold, or really any day that's earned a proper close.