Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter
Waconia Brewing Company

 

 

16oz can into a pint glass. NO freshness dating.

Looks okay in the glass. Darkest of dark brown body. Small tan head disappears quite quickly, no lacing.

Strongly peanut butter on the nose.

On tasting, the peanut butter is the strongest flavor, but nowhere near as dominant as the nose would suggest. It's quite sweet, but hard to find any chocolate flavor.

Mouth just about medium. There is a decent roast in the finish to cut the sweet.

Overall, an okay drink, but nothing to write home about. A stronger chocolate presence would have helped.

16oz pounder from the pounder variety pack

First off, MonDak_Joe1953 gave me such a huge laugh with his review, after I "[Did] a little web search on the effects on humans when ingesting 'FD&C YELLOW #5'" - I was howling laughing. What a sick world. And I guess they took that off the can's label b/c it's nowhere to be found. Still, I may be in this world, but not of this world.

Nonsense aside, let us get to the review: Drinkin' out the can, it smells purely of peanut butter. If I dig I can get a little hop and malty "beer" scent but this is 99% PB in the schnoz. It tastes surprisingly light and smooth, and is not the peanut butter bomb promised by the scent. It actually has a very authentic and impressively mild PB flavor alongside almost none of the promised chocolate. They did the impressive part and muted the PB but forgot to boost the choco syrup concentration. Tiny hit of coffee. Thin considering the ingredients and amount of sugar probably involved. Remains a PB bomb because there isn't much else to it besides the Skippy

If a peanut-butter chocolate porter sounds good to you, and you'd prefer it to be on the mild side, then this is for you. It does nothing for me (except make me laugh about yellow #5)

 

 

Pours dark brown, almost black, with one one finger beige head which fades pretty quickly down to a small disc of foam. Has a strong peanut and peanut butter aroma with the chocolate aroma lingering in the background. Smells nice. Taste has some bitter dark roasted malt in addition to the peanut, peanut butter, and chocolate flavors. Light to medium bodied, moderate carbonation, and a little creaminess. Well made.

16 oz nitro pour on tap, served in a shaker pint glass. Appearance is very dark brown, nearly black, with a smallish tan head. Aroma and flavor are peanut butter, chocolate, mild coffee, and dark roasted malts. Maybe a little bit burnt but not in an off-putting way. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy and not too flat. Overall this was really tasty.

16oz can. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It smelled of chocolate and peanut butter. Sweet chocolate and PB flavor, although both were a little weaker than I expect.

 

 

 

 

 

So the big beige head went away pretty quickly, leaving virtually no lacing over the pitch black beer. Nose is super reminiscent of this peanut butter scratch and sniff sticker I had as a kid, which is to say that while pleasant, it comes across as a bit contrived. This theme carries over to the taste as a topical peanut butter thing is there but lacks any meaningful depth. Body is very watery and the aftertaste is a touch tinny. Not a big fan.

Had on tap. There are two types of peanut butter stouts/porters. There are the ones that are artificial, feel disconnected as a beer and are gross, and the ones that are natural and really make a unified beer. This one is the latter, starting with the aromas of milk chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, nuts, and sugary malt, smells like halloween candy. Taste creamy chocolate with robust and sweet peanut butter, a holy marriage of flavor. Could see how the taste is a little strong on the finish with the peanuts and booze, but I found it to be appealing, just sip it. Body itself is creamy, smooth, and medium bodied.

 

 

Appearance: Pours fudge brown with a decent bubble show that delivers a finger of ecru foam; spotty lacing

Smell: Chocolate, graham cracker, caramel and peanut butter

Taste: Sweetened chocolate and graham cracker forward, with some caramel arriving along with the peanut butter; nicely balanced through the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

Overall: Beers like this sometimes taste gimmicky and artificial but this one delivers as advertised

Thanks, Vidblain, for the opportunity