Whale Gulch Black Toad Porter

Brewed by Whale Gulch Brewery
Style: Porter
Whitethorn, California USA

This dark brown ale poured with a decent brown head and a chocolate and coffee aroma. It looks great, but not so the taste which is so sour as to seem like an infection. There is a nasty soapy finish. Undrinkable.

Bomber from rkuhnel. Very dark brown black color with a two finger tan head. Aromas of darkly roasted malt and coffee. Maybe chocolate. Near medium body with frothy carbonation. Flavor is rather varied. Near burnt toast. Coffee. Coffee grounds. I suspect there is a sour note hiding in here. Pretty astringent. Pretty tasty. Chocolate comes out in the finish. Nice.

From a 22 oz bottle purchased at the North Coast Coop for $4.35. Poured inky black, it kind of looked like used motor oil coming out of the bottle. Big tan head that just sat there in the glass and refused to go away. There was a major aroma of burnt malts, coffee, chocolate, and caramel. After about ten minutes it seemed like it had warmed up enough and the head was down to one finger with lots of lacing, so I went for a sip. Very powerful stuff this is, with strong flavors of roasted malts, a rich and creamy mouthfeel, and a nice crisp finish with a hint of hops. Nice work for a small brewery and amazingly good considering how bad a couple of their other brews are. Got a half dozen of these tucked away in the cellar if someone want to trade for one of these. I think I will slip this into our beer tasting club when we do porters and see how it measures up in a blind tasting. Hope the cool name and label didn’t affect my judgment.