Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: Porter
San Diego, California USA

Served cold from tap at brewery. My girlfriend’s favorite Ballast Point beer. Sweet, malty, a slight hint of hop bitterness. Coffee/chocolate aroma that usually precedes delicious beers. Creamy, balanced and filled with roasted goodness.

22oz bottle. Pours a black body with a finger-width, brown head that dissipates quickly and leaves a light lacing. Aroma is sweet, roasty, and fruity. An overlying citrus with a malty caramel and pruney chocolate. A medium roast balances the sweetness of this pretty well. Flavor is sweet roasts with a light acidity. Some chocolate, a good amount of citrus, slightly astringent prunes, and a bit of a sweet milky quality. Finishes dry after intially being very smooth with a mild roast, chocolate, citrusy and fruity aftertaste with a moderate duration. Medium bodied and kind of ashy when the aftertaste dies. Overall, not the brawny porter I usually go for, but very well balanced and tasty. A delicious mix of chocolate, mild roasts, and plenty of fruit with a pleasant astringency. I liked this one.

Really roasty porter with a tinge of hop balance to give you that bitter coffee experience. Bottle sent over from Snojerk. Surprisingly smoky aroma with some roasted malt and prune hints. Flavor dominated by the roast already mentioned and a really nice milk chocolate working in the background. Creamy texture makes this a perfect for dessert beer. More character here than many other straight porters and many impy stouts i’ve experienced in recent memory.

Bottled.. Pours black with an off white head..Aroma is smoke and roasted malts with a litle bit of sweetness...Flavor is roasted coffee and dark chocolate..Tasty

Smokey and good porter, not so chocolaty as suggested in the description. A bit thin on the second taste and finish. Just not a whole lot here, but still drinkable.

Thanks to San Diego Dan for the hook up. Black pour with a massive creamy tan head. This seemed to be a little too carbonated as it was gushing all over the place. Astringent roasted grain, chocolate malt aroma. Taste is big chocolate malt, roasted grain and cocoa powder. Good beer, would like to try a non infected bottle.

Bottle. Pours with a nice and big fluffy khaki head over a near black body. Awesome lace and retention. Aroma of cocoa powder, dry and dusty, with some raisins, dark fruit, dark malted grain, fudge brownie, vanilla leather and floral hops. Nice fruitiness, very pleasant smelling. Taste is not as good as the smell, but still quite good, cocoa nibs, chocolate dust, light coffee, low residual sugars, nut shells, and light vanilla. Well attenuated. Bubbly carbonation, perhaps 0.25 of a vol of CO2 too much, thinnish mouthfeel. Overall very drinkable, and could go down well with really any food. An extremely well made Ballast Point beers, one of their better offerings!

Bottled (at some pub during the pub crawls in Copenhagen (Maybe Örsted?)). Very deep ambery brown colour with mediumsized beigeish brown head. Aroma is roasted malts, some smoked wood, quite strong roasted coffee as well as some mild caramel malty notes. Mild fruityness also lurking. Flavour is quite much the same in a rather big way, even though in a good balance. Has some late hoppyness. Quite dry.