Oatmeal Porter
Pizza Port Solana Beach

My main gripe with this beer is the serving type. Which begs the next question, why are all the brewpub stouts and porters in Cali served on nitro? What a waste of potentially great beer. Anyway, this beer appeared a deep mahogany in color with a creamy and lasting head of white foam. The aroma was subtle with hints of water, chocolate and roasted grain. Silky & smooth. Notes of chocolate and coffee with hints of apple. But mainly just watery if anything else. Nitro sucks.

My wife surprised me by mentioning that she wanted to go down to Carlsbad for some shopping. I suggested that we have lunch at Pizza Port Carlsbad, home of the famous festivals. She agreed.
This oatmeal porter was a bit disappointing. The body was a bit thin and watery, although the aroma and flavor had nice roasty, oatmeal & chocolate characteristics to it.

Presentation: Prior to stopping down at Stone Brewery this weekend to pick up some Sawyers Triple, I had arranged to meet xlperro and RoyalT in here for a quick beer, and a bite to eat. The second of my two lunchtime Pints would be a smooth soothing Oatmeal Porter to take the edge of the awesome previous beer Wipeout IPA, & the spicy Pepperoni Pizza we had ordered.

Appearance: Classic nitro- stout look. A very dark brown body, that looks black at times, is filled with a light brown nitrogenous mass of bubbles that slowly balance out to form an incredibly smooth light tan head, comprised of immensely small bubbles, tightly packed. Excellent appearance.

Nose: Dark bitter cooking chocolate and roasted coffee beans.

Taste: Smooth coffee bitterness, which surprised me at first. The dark chocolate middle retains the earlier coffee bitterness, as indeed does the ending. Lightly roasted malts come through in the finish. A lingering astringent death.

Mouthfeel: A very, very smooth, solid creamy mouthfeel. Silky and all encompassing, its velvet body wraps itself around the tongue.

Drinkability: A very nice Porter, but I would it hard to drink too much of this, maybe a couple of Pints. Whilst the Nitro-Tap dispense adds character to the beer immensely, ironically it also detracts from the overall Drinkability for me – I find that I cannot drink too many Nitro-Tap beers, which I suppose is not a reflection on the beer really.

Overall: As with most industrial Stouts, the Oatmeal Porter definitely benefits from Nitro-Tap dispense. It worked a treat, and proved to be a very smooth tasty Porter. I will have this again, but only once in a while, mainly because I could not resist the plethora of IPA’s on offer at Pizza Port!

One of the choices on a nitro-tap at Pizza Port, Carlsbad. Poured into a pint glass, this porter has a nice cascade effect that, once concluded, leaves a deep, dark ruby - almost black - color. The tan head is thick and creamy with great retention and nice lacing.
Smell was a nice blend of coffee, dark chocolate and a mild smokiness.
Taste was of dark, semi-sweet chocolate and coffee and malt. Oatmeal Porter has a decidedly smoky flavor and only a mild bitterness in the finish.
Feel was surprisingly light-bodied, smooth and creamy.
I really liked this offering from Pizza Port. It's very easy to drink, has a nice flavor and isn't very filling at all. I'd definitely get this one again.