Blackboard #5 is a cream ale with 6.5% ABV from Victory Brewing Co. in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. This cream ale makes a 2017 return for Victory’s “blackboard series”which has featured such favorites as an Oatmeal Hazelnut Porter and a Berliner Weisse.
As a cream ale, Blackboard #5 pours to a golden wheat color with a bright white head that quickly settles without leaving behind much lacing on the glass. Notes of toasted grain are definitely present on the nose alongside a richer coffee aroma that’s crispness lives up to the cold brew coffee used in brewing.
Despite its strong coffee scent the flavor is quite mild and more in line with traditional cream ales like Croydon Cream Ale from Neshaminy Creek. Some coffee flavor does come with the finish, but it’s definitely more of an accent that rounds the beer out without really stealing the show.
Coffee beers are usually in the darker variety, typically stouts and porters, but this lighter, blonde offering gives coffee beer lovers a little something new to try from the much respected Victory Brewing.
