Mocha Marlin | Ballast Point Brewing Company
Brewed by:
Ballast Point Brewing Company
California, United States
ballastpoint.com
Style: American Porter
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 6.00%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
Coffee and chocolate come together in this brew.
Our Black Marlin Porter is the perfect beer for a mocha mashup. The addition of coffee and cocoa plays perfectly off the roasty, chocolaty flavors of this English porter, while a hint of vanilla smooths it all out. It’s full-bodied, but not too sweet; try it for breakfast…or dessert.
42 IBU
Added by dmorgan310 on 11-22-2015
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 253 | Reviews: 71
Reviews by Skrumpy:
More User Reviews:
4.57/5 rDev +11.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 5
So this is a bad time to review this but debate 3 in the election. So I'll try to avoid that horrible taste.
Dark brown color with an amazing head, creamy as hell and thick mocha.
The nose is coffee and chocolate and vanilla with a malty sugary back.
A light roast coffee with some tropical fruits in the coffee/hop bill along with dark chocolate.
I like this one a lot, it's got some ipa notes and some coffee stout notes. I can't explain a similar example, love it. Just love it. It isn't perfect beer, flaws are here but man this was a good test.
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look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 5
So this is a bad time to review this but debate 3 in the election. So I'll try to avoid that horrible taste.
Dark brown color with an amazing head, creamy as hell and thick mocha.
The nose is coffee and chocolate and vanilla with a malty sugary back.
A light roast coffee with some tropical fruits in the coffee/hop bill along with dark chocolate.
I like this one a lot, it's got some ipa notes and some coffee stout notes. I can't explain a similar example, love it. Just love it. It isn't perfect beer, flaws are here but man this was a good test.
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3.85/5 rDev -6.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.18/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Bomber bottle, a good value at $5.99 per at Peekskill Bev, Peekskill, NY
Pours dark and stout like, lighter mocha head leaves nice looking fine film, and a load of splattered fine sheeting.
Sniff of chocolate and cafe au lait.
Smooth, tasty, flavorful and dangerously easy drinking flovored porter/stout. moderate chocolate and coffee notes....basically delicious...would go great with a decadent chocolate dessert
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look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Bomber bottle, a good value at $5.99 per at Peekskill Bev, Peekskill, NY
Pours dark and stout like, lighter mocha head leaves nice looking fine film, and a load of splattered fine sheeting.
Sniff of chocolate and cafe au lait.
Smooth, tasty, flavorful and dangerously easy drinking flovored porter/stout. moderate chocolate and coffee notes....basically delicious...would go great with a decadent chocolate dessert
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4.46/5 rDev +8.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
3.94/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.07/5 rDev -25.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.75
4.21/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.46/5 rDev +8.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into a chalice.
Appearance: Pours a dark blackish brown. Moderate amount of bubbles and a big two finger tan head that settles into a thin creamy layer.
Smell: A roasty and sweet dark malt driven aroma with a scent of coffee and chocolate. Dark roasted malt with a scent of coffee beans, chocolate, toast, biscuit, nuts, caramel, toffee, and smoke along with yeast. Sweet scent of vanilla and milk lactose. Subtle hints of earthy hops. A really nice aroma.
Taste: Like it smells, a roasty and sweet dark malt forward taste with notes of coffee and chocolate. Dark roasted barley malt with good notes of coffee beans and chocolate along with some biscuit, toast, caramel, toffee, nuts, and smoke with some yeast. Sweet taste of milk lactose and vanilla. Light earthy hop bitterness towards the finish. A very good roasty taste.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Creamy, silky, and smooth with a fairly drying finish.
Overall: A very good Coffee Porter. Good balance of roasty bitterness and sweetness.
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look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 22 oz. bottle into a chalice.
Appearance: Pours a dark blackish brown. Moderate amount of bubbles and a big two finger tan head that settles into a thin creamy layer.
Smell: A roasty and sweet dark malt driven aroma with a scent of coffee and chocolate. Dark roasted malt with a scent of coffee beans, chocolate, toast, biscuit, nuts, caramel, toffee, and smoke along with yeast. Sweet scent of vanilla and milk lactose. Subtle hints of earthy hops. A really nice aroma.
Taste: Like it smells, a roasty and sweet dark malt forward taste with notes of coffee and chocolate. Dark roasted barley malt with good notes of coffee beans and chocolate along with some biscuit, toast, caramel, toffee, nuts, and smoke with some yeast. Sweet taste of milk lactose and vanilla. Light earthy hop bitterness towards the finish. A very good roasty taste.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Creamy, silky, and smooth with a fairly drying finish.
Overall: A very good Coffee Porter. Good balance of roasty bitterness and sweetness.
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4.41/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.08/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.08/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
22oz bottle - maybe I am having this one for breakfast...maybe I am.
This beer pours a fairly solid black, with orange cola basal edges, and three chubby fingers of puffy, rocky, and chunky brown head, which leaves some smushed webbed lace around the glass as it very slowly sinks away.
It smells of roasted craft coffee, bittersweet chocolate, gritty and grainy caramel malt, vanilla cookies, and some very plain earthy and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, Coffee Crisp candy bars (coffee, and chocolate wafers, mostly - hey, Hallowe'en was a few days ago, and there's lots of that stuff still kicking about around here), vanilla pudding, a twinge of sugary black licorice, and more tame leafy, earthy, and gently perfumed floral hoppiness.
The carbonation is quite low-key in its barely supportive frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and genuinely smooth, with a nice aerosol creaminess apparently there from the get-go. It finishes off-dry, the cocoa, coffee, and caramel doing one good hipster java shop impression!
Overall, this comes across as a well-made, rich and luxurious coffee and chocolate enhanced Porter, with nothing out of place or worth complaining about here, nuh-uh. Easy to drink, and enjoyable, however, it's really giving me the urge to go out and find something salty or savoury to share with it!
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look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
22oz bottle - maybe I am having this one for breakfast...maybe I am.
This beer pours a fairly solid black, with orange cola basal edges, and three chubby fingers of puffy, rocky, and chunky brown head, which leaves some smushed webbed lace around the glass as it very slowly sinks away.
It smells of roasted craft coffee, bittersweet chocolate, gritty and grainy caramel malt, vanilla cookies, and some very plain earthy and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, Coffee Crisp candy bars (coffee, and chocolate wafers, mostly - hey, Hallowe'en was a few days ago, and there's lots of that stuff still kicking about around here), vanilla pudding, a twinge of sugary black licorice, and more tame leafy, earthy, and gently perfumed floral hoppiness.
The carbonation is quite low-key in its barely supportive frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and genuinely smooth, with a nice aerosol creaminess apparently there from the get-go. It finishes off-dry, the cocoa, coffee, and caramel doing one good hipster java shop impression!
Overall, this comes across as a well-made, rich and luxurious coffee and chocolate enhanced Porter, with nothing out of place or worth complaining about here, nuh-uh. Easy to drink, and enjoyable, however, it's really giving me the urge to go out and find something salty or savoury to share with it!
1,373 characters
4.3/5 rDev +4.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
3.88/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
Appearance - Pours near black, dark cola brown with a cocoa-powder colored, rocky two-finger width head. Fair retention, settling to a thin, broken layer of suds with a fair ring around the edge of the glass. Fair lacing, with small spotting and a few broken lines.
Smell - Immediately hits with notes of coffee roast and milk chocolate. Hints of caramel and vanilla sit beneath.
Taste - Follows the nose. Hits first with mild coffee roast and milk chocolate sweetness, then lesser notes of vanilla cream and some caramel peak through by mid-taste. Finishes with the sweetness fading while the coffee roast holds firm in the aftertaste.
Mouthfeel - Light to medium in body with subpar carbonation. A bit slick on the tongue, with a slightly watery finish. Goes down easy enough, but feels a bit thin for the flavor profile.
Overall - Pretty good flavor, but the mouthfeel falls a bit short. Not bad for the price (>$5 at Winco). If it sticks around, it might be an occasional buy there because their dark beer selection is sorely lacking.
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look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
Appearance - Pours near black, dark cola brown with a cocoa-powder colored, rocky two-finger width head. Fair retention, settling to a thin, broken layer of suds with a fair ring around the edge of the glass. Fair lacing, with small spotting and a few broken lines.
Smell - Immediately hits with notes of coffee roast and milk chocolate. Hints of caramel and vanilla sit beneath.
Taste - Follows the nose. Hits first with mild coffee roast and milk chocolate sweetness, then lesser notes of vanilla cream and some caramel peak through by mid-taste. Finishes with the sweetness fading while the coffee roast holds firm in the aftertaste.
Mouthfeel - Light to medium in body with subpar carbonation. A bit slick on the tongue, with a slightly watery finish. Goes down easy enough, but feels a bit thin for the flavor profile.
Overall - Pretty good flavor, but the mouthfeel falls a bit short. Not bad for the price (>$5 at Winco). If it sticks around, it might be an occasional buy there because their dark beer selection is sorely lacking.
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4.29/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Modest tan head from a careful pour; very dark body, nearly black shot through with dark brown.
Big coffee aroma, which yields to roasted barley, nuts, and a very noticeable chocolate presence. Very similar to FBS.
Starts thin up front, but very soon waves of chocolate (and to a lesser extent coffee) come crashing through. It's a lovely, organic chocolate flavor, similar to Young's Double Chocolate, neither too sweet nor too bitter. The coffee is most prominent immediately up front, and on the bitter, roasty finish. Hints of cream and pecans, and very light notes of banana and red grape round out the profile, but it's the adjuncts which really shine here.
Slightly thin, but not unduly so, given the 6%. For the ABV, in fact, this is one of the most flavor-packed breakfast-style stouts on the market.
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look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Modest tan head from a careful pour; very dark body, nearly black shot through with dark brown.
Big coffee aroma, which yields to roasted barley, nuts, and a very noticeable chocolate presence. Very similar to FBS.
Starts thin up front, but very soon waves of chocolate (and to a lesser extent coffee) come crashing through. It's a lovely, organic chocolate flavor, similar to Young's Double Chocolate, neither too sweet nor too bitter. The coffee is most prominent immediately up front, and on the bitter, roasty finish. Hints of cream and pecans, and very light notes of banana and red grape round out the profile, but it's the adjuncts which really shine here.
Slightly thin, but not unduly so, given the 6%. For the ABV, in fact, this is one of the most flavor-packed breakfast-style stouts on the market.
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4.28/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.56/5 rDev +10.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 22 oz bottle into a pint glass. The appearance is a dark brown to black color with a medium sized tan head. The aroma is roasted malt, coffee and chocolate. The taste matches the nose and is awesome.
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look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 22 oz bottle into a pint glass. The appearance is a dark brown to black color with a medium sized tan head. The aroma is roasted malt, coffee and chocolate. The taste matches the nose and is awesome.
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4.22/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours ebony with 2+ of caramel colored head. Good head retention & better than average lacing
S: Coffee, a little vanilla, some choclolate & black currant as this warms
T: Follows the nose, a little caramel & roastyness, drynesss as well up front. Woody hops, roastyness & a little vanilla as this warms. Finishes dry, roasty & with a little mocha sweetness
MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation
Flavorful Porter that's easy to drink, plenty of coffee presence
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look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours ebony with 2+ of caramel colored head. Good head retention & better than average lacing
S: Coffee, a little vanilla, some choclolate & black currant as this warms
T: Follows the nose, a little caramel & roastyness, drynesss as well up front. Woody hops, roastyness & a little vanilla as this warms. Finishes dry, roasty & with a little mocha sweetness
MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation
Flavorful Porter that's easy to drink, plenty of coffee presence
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4.14/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
A very nice coffee stout for a cold winter evening, the coffee and chocolate both foward for sure and both feeling very quality, nothing too harsh, nothing too sweet, just a finely balanced brew.
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look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
A very nice coffee stout for a cold winter evening, the coffee and chocolate both foward for sure and both feeling very quality, nothing too harsh, nothing too sweet, just a finely balanced brew.
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Mocha Marlin from Ballast Point Brewing Company
4.11
out of 5
based on 253 ratings.
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
This beer velvety and dark. Creamy tan head with streak lacing. Aroma is cocoa and espresso with hints of toasted marshmallow. The flavor really is like drinking a mocha. I found it to be just a tad too much on the sweet side for me, but still quite enjoyable. Silky smooth and rich. Definitely worth trying.
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