Callys Plowman Porter

On tap at Cally’s. Dark black body with a medium creamy tan head. Sweet roasted malt aroma and light chocolate. Rich roasted malt and chocolate flavor, fairly creamy. Medium light body with moderate carbonation and a smooth creamy finish.

Draft at the brewery. Pours dark brown with a tan head and ruby highlights. Aroma is noticeably lacking, maybe if I had let if warm up a bit it would give off a bit more. Taste is mostly roasted malts and some hops with an interesting carrot-like finish. Great carbonation makes this very drinkable. Overall a great effort from cally’s but a bit lacking in body and complexity for the style.

Name: Porter
Date: 06/25/1999
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Old Dominion

dark brown, big tan head, rich chocolate aroma, rich malty flavor, lots of chocolate, touch of roasted,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Score: **4
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Date: 07/17/2006
Mode: Draft, Nitro
Source: Brewpub

black with ruby edges, lasting thin fine tan head, tons of lace, strong chocolate malt aroma, creamy velvet body, very rich chocolate flavor, touch of butterscotch sweetness, hint of bitterness in the finish

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 10/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

This is an excellent porter, served on a co2/nitro mix at the brewpub. Chocolate and coffee notes abound, with an emphasis on the roastiness of the latter. Smooth, smooth! Goes down easy with a nice balanced finish.

Black body. Slick nitro head. The aroma is faint, but the flavor is a bit of espresso, some chocolate and a touch of butterscotch.

On tap at the brewpub. Very smooth, with lots of espresso coffee and cooking chocolate. Fair amount of bitterness, but a touch of sweetness too. A pleasant, solid effort.

Growler. Black, very clear, with brown head. Aromas of toasted dark malt, coffee, faint sweet malt. Dry palate with flavors of roasted black malts (very distinct grain flavor) and coffee, much like a dry stout. Decidedly thin, but this seems intentional-- it’s a simple beer, no false pretense. I find it an enjoyable take on the style. Growler split with Quintana over a batch of pumpkin homebrew; the aroma of baked pumpkin blends quite nicely with this one.

Nice, smoky, malty, in short everything you expect from a porter. It doesn’t surpass that by any means, you won’t be shocked by what is going on. But this is a good offering. UPDATE -- they also offer a limited time "Bourbon Barrel Aged" version of the Plowman Porter.