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Thirsty Thursday

Thirsty Thursday: Cooperstown Brewing Benchwarmer Porter

Nicole Abrams | Staff Photographer

The Cooperstown Brewing Benchwarmer Porter offers slight coffee aroma with noticeably nutty taste. It’s a great companion for watching the game from your couch.

I was never the biggest fan of baseball growing up. So while my dad has taken my sister, who is a diehard Yankees fans, to Cooperstown a couple of times to visit the National Baseball Hall Of Fame, I always stayed home. It wasn’t until last spring that I took my first trip to Cooperstown, and by that time I was 21 and able to fully enjoy the experience.

When I saw the Benchwarmer Porter on the shelf at Wegmans and realized it came from Cooperstown Brewing, I knew right away that I had to try it. All I know about porters is that they’re dark, heavy beers and the Benchwarmer Porter was no exception.

I decided to stick to the nostalgic and old-fashioned vibes that I felt in Cooperstown and drank the Benchwarmer Porter straight out of the bottle while watching “The Sandlot.”

I gave the beer a good whiff before taking my first sip and I picked up on a slight aroma of coffee. Upon taking my first swig of the porter, I was surprised by the subtlety of the coffee taste. The Benchwarmer Porter had a more noticeable nutty taste, and it was delicious.

The beer barely seemed carbonated and almost had the viscosity of whole milk. It was really heavy, but not so heavy that it was hard to drink. I may not have been able to drink a whole six-pack in one sitting, but I surely enjoyed sipping on this porter and would definitely order it at a bar if I found it on draft.



With baseball season kicking off next month, the Benchwarmer Porter from Cooperstown Brewing is the perfect beer for enjoying a game from the comfort of your living room couch. I imagine that this beer would pair well with peanuts and nachos, but if you’re planning on getting rowdy at an actual baseball stadium, a lighter beer may be more suitable.





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