Palomar Porter
Rip Current Brewing

December 5th, 2015 - Rip's dark beers are a coup for a city soaked in hops, like this Palomar Chocolate served temporarily on nitro. The color is a cool, calm jet black with the velvet head of a nitro brew, and the smell of smooth chocolate. Note, this aroma is more like fresh chocolate milk than a chocolate bar, but it's clear the malt here has been designed to evoke chocolate without making it taste like a dessert beer. As expected, the mouthfeel is smooth and soft to the touch, and gives more of those chocolate notes of chocolate covered raisons, with cacao nibs on the back end, and even a little saline chocolate in the Mexican fashion. Rich, delicious, and gone in an instant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Rip Current Brewing in San Marcos, CA.

Pours an opaque black with a foamy khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Foamy streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of dark roasted malt, cocoa, and char. Taste is much the same with a char flavor on the finish. There is a mild amount of roasty bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with some solid aromas and flavors for the style.