Victory At Sea Imperial Porter with Coffee & Vanilla | Ballast Point Brewing Company
Brewed by:
Ballast Point Brewing Company
California, United States
ballastpoint.com
Style: American Porter
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 10.00%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
Our Victory at Sea Imperial Porter is a bold, smooth brew with just the right amount of sweetness. We infused this robust porter with whole vanilla beans and San Diego’s own Caffe Calabria coffee beans. The subtle roasted notes and minimal acidity of the cold brewed coffee, balances perfectly with the sweet caramel undertones of the malt, creating a winning combination for your palate.
Added by radshoesbro on 03-17-2009
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 7,021 | Reviews: 1,466
4.66/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.75/5 rDev +8.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.75/5 rDev +8.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
4.34/5 rDev -1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured into a Ballast Point shaker pint glass.
Look: Pitch black body with brown coming through the fringes. Dark cream colored head that recedes to a collar and fine film. Light spots of lacing.
Aroma: Charred grains and roasted malts blend with sweet vanilla and cinnamon spiciness. Dark roasted coffee on the back end.
Taste: Tons of roasted malts and rich dark coffee flavor covered in a perfect touch of vanilla. The finish has more of a sharp hop bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, pretty smooth for 10% ABV.
Overall: This goes down way too easy for 10% ABV. Perfect amount of vanilla, and tons of roast.
619 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured into a Ballast Point shaker pint glass.
Look: Pitch black body with brown coming through the fringes. Dark cream colored head that recedes to a collar and fine film. Light spots of lacing.
Aroma: Charred grains and roasted malts blend with sweet vanilla and cinnamon spiciness. Dark roasted coffee on the back end.
Taste: Tons of roasted malts and rich dark coffee flavor covered in a perfect touch of vanilla. The finish has more of a sharp hop bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, pretty smooth for 10% ABV.
Overall: This goes down way too easy for 10% ABV. Perfect amount of vanilla, and tons of roast.
619 characters
4.38/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.81/5 rDev +9.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
4.02/5 rDev -8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
This was a very good porter but I must say I was a little disappointed. Reading the reviews, I thought this would be unbelievable but it was merely very good. I felt the tasted a bit too much like burnt coffee and the vanilla took a bit too much of a back seat to the coffee. that being said I might be splitting hairs. It was still very good. A nice nightcap after a long day in early March.
392 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
This was a very good porter but I must say I was a little disappointed. Reading the reviews, I thought this would be unbelievable but it was merely very good. I felt the tasted a bit too much like burnt coffee and the vanilla took a bit too much of a back seat to the coffee. that being said I might be splitting hairs. It was still very good. A nice nightcap after a long day in early March.
392 characters
4.61/5 rDev +5%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Wow. Great balance here. A little coffee. Check. Vanilla...check. Nothing overpowering and everything in balance....check. Awesome brew that goes down easy at 10%. My only want would be a thicker mouthfeel, but that may be my own bias because I like chewy.
263 characters
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Wow. Great balance here. A little coffee. Check. Vanilla...check. Nothing overpowering and everything in balance....check. Awesome brew that goes down easy at 10%. My only want would be a thicker mouthfeel, but that may be my own bias because I like chewy.
263 characters
4.71/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
4.69/5 rDev +6.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Ooops.
That's the impression I instantly got when I took a sip of this. Ooops. I've wasted the first third of my life. I should have been drinking this the whole time. If I split the next 60 years evenly between this and one of my favorite lighter beers (a nice tripel maybe?), I will die a happy man.
302 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Ooops.
That's the impression I instantly got when I took a sip of this. Ooops. I've wasted the first third of my life. I should have been drinking this the whole time. If I split the next 60 years evenly between this and one of my favorite lighter beers (a nice tripel maybe?), I will die a happy man.
302 characters
3.75/5 rDev -14.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.05/5 rDev -7.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
So I had Calm Before The Storm before Victory at Sea and I wasn't really feeling it but this is different because obviously it's a porter so not as awkward for me. Darker than I expected, almost imperial stout like but without the heaviness. Smells of roasted malt and coffee. Taste of roasted mealtimes/wood with coffee. Vanilla is definitely there but more in the aftertaste to me. A overall good beer.
404 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
So I had Calm Before The Storm before Victory at Sea and I wasn't really feeling it but this is different because obviously it's a porter so not as awkward for me. Darker than I expected, almost imperial stout like but without the heaviness. Smells of roasted malt and coffee. Taste of roasted mealtimes/wood with coffee. Vanilla is definitely there but more in the aftertaste to me. A overall good beer.
404 characters
4.25/5 rDev -3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.57/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
This is a beer you don't find every day. Thank God BP starting distributing in Indiana! Here goes!
A: Splendid. Pours a thick black with a nice head. The head is thick and fluffy, and the lacing sticks to the glass like honey. Some red hue, the beer is nearly pitch black.
S: Remarkable. Among the best-scented stouts/porters ever! Tons of chocolate and coffee - some vanilla as well, but the dark malts dominate. Exquisite.
T: Great. Nice burnt coffee malt with lingering cocoa. Also a lot of vanilla to balance out the dark malt. Great.
F: Little lighter than expected. Pretty easy drinking.
O: A great beer. So glad BP started distro in Indiana. Maybe I'll get to try all the Sculpin varieties, too.
725 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
This is a beer you don't find every day. Thank God BP starting distributing in Indiana! Here goes!
A: Splendid. Pours a thick black with a nice head. The head is thick and fluffy, and the lacing sticks to the glass like honey. Some red hue, the beer is nearly pitch black.
S: Remarkable. Among the best-scented stouts/porters ever! Tons of chocolate and coffee - some vanilla as well, but the dark malts dominate. Exquisite.
T: Great. Nice burnt coffee malt with lingering cocoa. Also a lot of vanilla to balance out the dark malt. Great.
F: Little lighter than expected. Pretty easy drinking.
O: A great beer. So glad BP started distro in Indiana. Maybe I'll get to try all the Sculpin varieties, too.
725 characters
4.89/5 rDev +11.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Amazing taste and smell to this great Vaniila / coffee porter from BP. Mouthfeel is perfect, hoping someday they BA this. And if they do ohh boy. Take my $$ now
164 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Amazing taste and smell to this great Vaniila / coffee porter from BP. Mouthfeel is perfect, hoping someday they BA this. And if they do ohh boy. Take my $$ now
164 characters
4.34/5 rDev -1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Victory At Sea Imperial Porter with Coffee & Vanilla from Ballast Point Brewing Company
Beer rating:
4.39 out of
5 with
7,021 ratings
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