Pizza Port Carlsbad Ruby Black

Brewed by Pizza Port (Carlsbad)
Style: Baltic Porter
Carlsbad, California USA

On tap @ Boulder Strong Ale Fest poured an opaque black with a small lingering tan head. Aromas of coffee, roastiness and bitter chocolate. Palate was medium to full bodied and smooth. Flavors of bitter chocolate, roasted malt and coffee with a smooth lingering bitter finish.

From a growler filled 3/31/08. Opaque black with a 1/2 finger beige head that lasted about 30 seconds before fading to a ring and a swirling film. The aroma is full of milk chocolate and yeasty bread dough. Some deeply toasted grain and roasted malts are also present. Flavor has plenty of yeasty bread and chocolate up front with lots of chocolatey malts--there is a degree of roast, but not as much as I get from imperial stouts--I thought PP was bullshitting me and disguising an imperial stout as a Baltic, but they did well. A tinge of soy with a semi-dry finish, low bitterness (2-3 out of 10). Though the Baltics from their "homeland" end up a bit too sweet, this one didn’t at all. Full body with light to moderate carbonation. Rating #10! This officially gets a style percentile!

Tap at PP Carlsbad. Pours black(more of a deep brown) with no head. Smell is bitter chocolate, yeast, dark fruit, caramel,light smoke and a light hop aroma of citrus. Taste is same. Mouthfeel is light with a decent carbonation. Little bit of alcohol is noticed but at 9.5% it is well hidden. Not a fan of Baltic Porters but this is tasty.

Pint pre PP Belgian Fest @ PP Carlsbad. Pours black with a tan head. Nose is malty and rich. Taste is sweet, and rich and malty and hot alc. Good.

On tap at Downtown Johnny Brown’s. Poured midnight black, no seeing through this one. Aroma is strong chocolate malt with rich caramel whiffs as well. Mouthfeel is rich and warming, with a really nice nutty middle. The malts in this were absoulutely insane. The finish was brilliant and lingered nicely tapering off perfectly. Great Porter!

On tap at the Carlsbad location. Pours a deep chocolatey black color, opaque, with a thick head of creamy roasted tan. Clean malt forward aroma of dry baker’s chocolate and a toasted nuttiness. Toasted biscuit, but no harsh roast bitterness. Wonderfully clean, but very chocolate forward; doesn’t have any of the molasses or dark fruit components that are wonderful additions in other examples of the style. Medium full bodied, creamy carbonation with a gentle warmth. Rich, clean, malty flavors of chocolate and toasted black patent malts (not used as a blind recipe guess but merely as an observation on the clean flavor similarity to these malts consumed raw); very porter-esque without crossing over into stout territory. I’d like a bit more malt depth in the way of dark fruits, molasses, and/or toffee, but the flavors that are there are wonderfully clean and satisfying. Lingering finish of toasted bread and cocoa, relying on the maltiness to dry up the finish rather than hops. Wonderfully authentic rendition of the style. The clean lager character and restrained hops really allow the malts to shine through.

On tap at Stone. Black with almost no head. Roasty, chocolate, fruit and hops aroma. Tangy citrus and chocolate taste.

tap at stone bistro....poured a very dark brown, almost black, with reddish brown hues towards the edges. a thin tan wispy head topped this elixir off..... aroma of roasted malt, some smoke, and sweet chocolate.... flavor had a nice light roast component, a little burnt toast, and sweet rich chocolate. alcohol very well hidden for being 9.5% which i didn’t know was that high at the time that i had it.