Marin Point Reyes Porter

Brewed by Marin Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Larkspur, California USA

Black pour, moderate sized tan head with some lacing and retention. Aroma is chocolate, coffee, caramel, moderate to light hops. Medium bodied, rich flavors. Well balanced and enjoyable porter. Very drinkable, a pleasant surprise.

22 oz bottle. Poured a nearly opaque black color. Only a bit of garnet light came through. The head was thick and creamy with good retention and lacing. Nice aroma; chocolate (none of that cheap powered cocoa) and a hint of roasted malt. Roasty and moderately bitter on the tongue. No significant sweetness. I tasted chocolate mostly, but there was also some molasses and roasted malt. Lots of carbonation. In fact, the bottle foamed over after popping the cap. Good porter.

Bottled, consumed 01/11/08. Pours a GIANT light brown head with big, honeycombed appearance. Huh. Beer is very dark brown, anyway. Had to wait quite some time for head to dwindle to the point I could get some beer in my mouth, too. Boozy aroma with musty notes. Carbonation astringency and burning is so strong it almost totally masks sour, lambic flavor. I normally wouldn’t rate an infected beer, but it seems that every bottle I get from Marin and Moylan’s is this way. Either they have some serious quality control issues or the BevMo where I buy their beer (West Hollywood) puts them out in the sun or something. I wasted my money on this one.

Coffee-colored head. Black, opaque. Chocolaty smell. Taste is burnt malt and bitterness turning to rich chocolate. Substantial. [Compared with a Sierra Nevada Porter] The Sierra has a much more fruity nose compared to the chocolate Point Reyes. Guess that indicates it all: the Point Reyes is a chocalaty-rich dessert and the Sierra is another fantastic one, but very hopped.

650 ml bottle from Bevmo. Pours an opaque black color with a small tan head that quickly recedes to 1/8 inch. The aroma is strong and complex with molasses, coffee, burnt malts, and ripe plums. The flavor is not nearly as complex as the aroma. In the flavor I detect molasses, brown sugar and licorice. The mouthfeel is silky smooth and satisfying. The Finish had notes of earthiness. Overall: this is a fine porter. Recommended.

Bottle courtesy of dirty_martini. Pours dark brown with a nice tan head. Smells of chocolate, coffee, some caramel and molasses. Tastes of chocolate but lacking in malt character. Some sugary sweetness is there, but there’s no underlying bitterness to balance it. Tastes more like a sweet stout. Decent, but not one I’d seek out again.

Black pour, giant loose brown head. Milky sweet aroma with cheap chocolate. Quite carbonated. Light in body with mild roasted and cocoa flavors. Clean, dry finish with a gentle bitter bite.

Bottled. A pitch black beer with a brown shine and some sediment floating around under a huge brown head. The aroma is sweet malty with strong notes of chocolates, and lighter notes of cocoa. The flavor is sweet with a slight acidic note from hard roasted malt combined with notes of chocolate, leading to a very dry finish.