Trader Joe's Coffee Peanut Butter Cup Porter
Campanology Brewing

Like I died and went to heaven...reminds me of "you put your peanut butter in my chocolate" only with coffee!!! For me, most "dessert" beers are overly sweet and leave me feeling bloated, but this stout was delicious and allowed me to enjoy a second. YEE-HA!

Glugs out black-brown with a nice cap of foam that recedes to nothing. Smells exactly like a peanut-butter cup. The taste is PB, chocolate malt, and a bitter boozy finish. Almost no coffee. Cloyingly sweet. The sorta artificial PB taste hangs around for a while... I'd never buy this again. Still, considering the price, this is a quality dessert "porter"

 

 

Type: 22-oz. bottle
Reviewed as: Imperial Porter
Glass: Ball 16-oz. mason jar
Price: $3.99
From: Trader Joe’s in La Mesa, Calif.
Purchased: Sept. 28, 2020
Consumed: Oct. 5, 2020
Misc.: No bottled on date

My wife picked this one up for me. Sounded right up my alley as it was described on the bottle as a “Porter with peanut butter powder, coffee and lactose.” Say what you want about Campanology, but for the price you can’t beat the value of their beer. For the first eight beers I reviewed from them, it came out to an average of 3.82. After looking that up, that’s sandwiched between Bear Republic and Dogfish Head. Not bad for what it is. This one sounded terrific and was excited to see it at 9 pct. ABV.

Poured a very dark, almost pitch black color with two fingers of khaki tan frothy head, which thinned out quickly. Pretty calm underneath with no noticeable bubbles. Good watery lacing. Below average retention. (Sight - 3.50)

Smelled hazelnut, caramel, cappuccino, toasted nuts, caramel popcorn, toffee, milk chocolate, creamy peanut butter, butterscotch and chocolate milk. Fairly similar from the bottle. Almost smells bourbon like. (Smell - 4.25)

Wow. Tasted even better than the nose. Diabeetus! In order got hazelnut, caramel, toffee, cappuccino, caramel popcorn, malt chocolate, creamy peanut butter, butterscotch, bitter toasted nuts, chocolate milk and cacao. Did not taste like a 9 pct. ABV beer. (Taste - 4.50)

Full body. Sticky texture. Average carbonation. Long, smooth finish. (Feel - 4.50)

Just a terrific beer. So damn good, so damn smooth and so damn cheap. (Overall - 4.50)

4.38 | 97 | A

First off this beer clocks in at 9% ABV so to say it's a "porter" is a bit of a mis-labelling. I would say this should be at least categorized as a double porter or as a double IPA.

Coffee Peanut Butter Cup Porter has a thin, beige head, and a dark brown, bubbly appearance, with some lacing. The aroma is of intense peanut butter, coffee, dark malt, and cream. The taste is the same, with sugar and cocoa. Coffee Peanut Butter Cup Porter has a high-medium body with a silky mouthfeel and a semi-sweet finish.

RJT

I am somewhat conflicted on this one. Nothing on the bottle describes the malts or hops and there is not date stamp that I could find on the 22 oz bottle. Very nice appearance; black with a tan head that is relatively persistent and some decent lacing and the smell was assessed by multiple tasters as "peanut butter cup" and some chocolate. Taste follows nose, but it seems artificially sweet and overtly peanut buttery as if the label description of "porter with peanut butter powder , coffee and lactose" is an understatement. However, all four people that tried it thought it was tasty. To me it was a good beverage, but just not much like an authentic, unadulterated beer.

$3.99 USD for a 1 pint 6 fl oz brown glass bottle. It was called a Trader Joe's beer in articles put out months before its release, but now that it's hit shelves it's under the Campanology Brewing label, not branded Trader Joe's per se even though the contract is exclusive.

9% ABV. "Porter with peanut butter powder, coffee and lactose." Has a boringly simplisitic yellow/brown label and an unbranded yellow pry-off crown cap.

Served cold into a stemless wine glass.

Head is a faint khaki colour. ~2cm in height. Boasts impressive ~5 minute retention for its high ABV.

Body is, predictably, an opaque black. Not ink or jet black, but black.

Looks like a well carbonated brew and it's well within style conventions for appearance.

AROMA: Authentic peanut butter aromatics. Obvious lactose sugar sweetness in addition to more standard chocolate malt and dark malt sweetness. I don't detect any of the advertised coffee, nor is there any balancing roast or other bitterness-imparting notes.

Suggests a sweet porter that hides its ABV with saccharine malt sweetness and unnecessary lactose sugar. I'm concerned about sweetness going in...

TASTE & TEXTURE: Okay, so it doesn't nail the authentic/genuine peanut butter flavour, but it comes pretty close. Sort of a PB2 powder porter with no actual coffee flavour or (needed) roasted barley to balance it out. The unnecessary lactose sugar dumps in kilocalories and sugary sweetness to its detriment...that was a poor call.

Even the chocolate malt barely comes through because of the dominant lactose sugar sweetness...it really obfuscates everything that might otherwise be subtle in this beer. I can't say it's balanced, but it does deliver on the peanut butter cup aspect of the premise while failing to bring any coffee to the table...in any case it's far more complex and multidimensional than something like Southern Tier's stouts (which tend to be so one-note they're a chore to drink).

Smooth, wet, unrefreshing, medium to full-bodied, a bit syrupy, heavy on the palate, filling. I can see my dentist shaking his/her head at my in my mind's eye with each sip...fuck's sake this is sweet and thick.

OVERALL: An oversweet porter that will get you drunk, and it's not terribly priced at ~$4 a bomber. I wouldn't buy it again and the absence of coffee flavour is a real shame, but it's not a bad attempt at a peanut butter cup porter even if it leaves a lot to be desired.

C / AVERAGE