Ocean Man
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

Uncommon style in the NW U.S., so was pleased to find this offering from one of Oregon’s premier breweries. Canned 70 days ago.
Strong malt character with slight (and just enough for my palate) ‘tangy’ finish. That tanginess is perfectly melded with an ultra smooth mouthfeel.
8.0 ABV is noticeable, but only just enough to let you know this isn’t a Porter-Porter.
Perfect sipper for a cool spring Central Oregon afternoon.

Canned Feb 19 '25. Pour is an opaque rich dark brown. Head is frothy, settling down to a skim layer. Ok lacing. Nose starts with a rich dark toast with expresso coffee and licorice. The taste combines a rich Porter with a more hefty 8% ABV content. The flavors unfold as it warms to cellar temps, sipping is essential to appreciate this robust ale.

Clear dark brown with long-lasting dark beige foam in the chalice. Mouthfeel is swirly and lush. The taste is really sweet and candy-like with something like super-concentrated expresso. Then there is the candied fruit and dried figs, and it all goes dark with bark, burnt sugar, and even burnt cocoa. Overall this tastes so charred and so bitter with the endless fruit, like some kind of ultra-bitter chocolate candy with Laphroig filling. From the 16 oz can purchased at Elizabeth Station. Dated 01/22/24.

Look: As expected, pours a dark brown and looks black in the glass with a frothy light brown head that holds as a pillow and leaves great lacing behind

Aroma: Dark fruit – both fresh and dried, warmed brown bread, light roast, chocolate, dark caramel, coffee, earthy notes, and toasted bread

Taste: Kicks off with a tasty blend of dark chocolate and coffee that hold the spotlight for a moment before dark fruit joins the fun. Plums, prunes, dates, black mission figs, and raisins all in the fray and some bready malt and roast present themselves too. Coffee, chocolate, and dark fruit complete the journey, re-emerging and join earthy notes on the close

Mouthfeel: Full, smooth, clean, medium-high carbonation, and clean and smooth on the finish

Overall: This is a tasty beer. I love this hard-to-find style and the label art grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let it go so took the easy plunge buying this and glad that I did. It has some nice dark fruit presence that pairs well with the roast, chocolate, and coffee notes and just enough earthy finish to not come across as sweet. A nice clean finish round this delicious beer out and I fully recommend it

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a half finger dark khaki head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, light graham cracker and coffee. Flavor is dark toasted malt with light char, bakers chocolate, coffee, mild dried plums; roasted char and a bit of bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A quite roasty take on the Baltic porter style. Deep non-sweetened chocolate and coffee notes, lighter dark fruit. Interesting interplay between the malt and coffee character char notes and some light hop bitterness in the finish too. Tough to rate accurately, it's not quite to style, with more roast and less plum than classic Baltic porters, but it tastes really great and the flavors are well balanced and interesting. I'm going with taste over style.

The head is tighter than shaving cream. Getting chocolate, coffee, dark fruit and the malts are superb.
Subtle bitterness in the finish balances this nicely. They used Lager yeast as well, which really works well.