Ballast Point Homework Series Batch #6 - Robust Porter
Dark black with ruby red highlights, this Robust Porter is rich and complex. A blend of UK malts, chocolate rye and Belgian candi sugar provide a sweet chocolate, yet rich earthy quality. Malt forward with an aroma full of roasted malts, toffee and dark fruit, this National Homebrew Competition medal-winner is a great dessert beer or to pair with hearty foods. Happy brewing!
3.7
162 reviews
San Diego, United States
Community reviews
Bottle sample at a tasting at the Beer & Beyond shop. Thanks beerandbeyond. Dark brown. Aroma of roast, chocolate, caramel, some dark fruits. Sweet flavor with roast, caramel, chocolate, coffee, nuts, a bit of fruitiness. Medium-bodied.
At the Beer and Beyond shop, Pours black with red taints and a beige head, aroma of chocolate, coffee, caramel, flavor of chocolate, coffee, caramel, pretty dry, medium bodied
Bottle from Super Phipps. Aroma of chocolate and roast malts. Lots of coffee. Taste is sweet with bitterness on the finish.
22 oz. bottle from One Stop Market, Haverhill, MA. Aroma is of roast, coffee, cocoa, dark fruits, and chocolate.
Taste is similar to the aroma. Has a medium-full body with a creamy mouthfeel and a semi bitter, long roasty earthy malt finish. Overall, a very nice imperial Porter that is well crafted. Nothing that really stands out. But for a home brew recipe, it is pretty kick ass!
Dark chocolate, coffee and charred grain aroma. Medium brown amber body with a small foamy tan head. The charred grain comes through with a very dry mouthfeel followed by a bit of fresh coffee. The body is fairly thin. There’s a bit of bittersweet chocolate in the aftertaste and a dry bitterness, most likely from the roasted malt and hops. Overall, a very good strong porter.
Nice, big bottle to finish out the excellent, cooler weather we had today! Perfect evening for a new Porter!
There is alot going on in the aroma department....tootsie roll, dark chocolate, light brown sugar, mild spice, some hops and roasted grains, and some hints of vanilla and bourbon! Very impressive, before it even hits your tongue!
Mixed taste, bordering on the sweet and lightly bitter side. The sweet, dark chocolate notes are prevalent in the mouth. Mouthfeel is very smooth and pleasant, light overall for a porter style, sticks around for a bit.
I really liked this brew! A great porter style, with a bit of creativity in the key points! Ballast Point never disappoints in their special release brews!
Botella de Spec’s. Black with a big foamy tan head. Lacing is moderate. Aroma of molasses, dark cherry, roast, light coffee, and milk. Taste is roasty and a little smokey and bitter; and robust. Medium-full bodied, smooth and finishing bitter. Very solid.
Un liquide très noir au corps d’apparence mince coiffé d’une tête bien blanche et floconneuse. Un porter au look bien fidèle au style anglais. Arômes chocolatés et frais de cacao en poudre auxquels s’ajoutent des feuilles de houblon bien vertes et fraîches. Corps en effet plutôt mince, bien que le liquide ne titre pas 8% d’alcool. Saveurs de poudre de cacao, de chocolat noir, de malts torréfiés et de café en grain, le tout bien enrobé dans une dose bien agréable de houblons. Amertume presque totalement absente, un porter anglais houblonné bien facile à boire.
This is a strong, rich porter and I really like it. The price in my area is lower than beers of this quality usually go for (much like Ballast Point’s Black Marlin porter), and I will definitely buy it agian. It pours dark brown with average head, and the aroma has a lot going on. Coffee, caramel, chocolate, citrus hops, some spice. I picked up on all of that and some brown sugar in the flavor, too.
Black with a tan head. Robustly roasted malt, near burnt but not quite. Chocolate, light brown sugar, caramel. Finish is bitter roasted malts. Doesn’t have the coffee flavor profile, but has a similar harsh bitter finish like a black cup of dark roast coffee. Good.
Really good! An earthy but smooth dark ale - it’s the best porter I’ve had in a while. Some cocoa, fresh, light coffee, herby hops, dark honey, and rye bread. Let’s hear it for the home brew Mart series. This one deserves to be released again.
Black pour, small brown head. Fantastic aroma of dark chocolate, vanilla,coffee, oak. Yum! Quite chocolaty, but with a bitter bite. Nice.
Great porter. Balanced and enjoyable. Not a lot of body which makes it wet easy to drink a whole glass
Creamy and not overly roasty. This beer drinks almost like a milk stout, but doesn’t go too far into the stout region. Nice roast on the nose, but not terribly bitter. One of the better robust porters I’ve had in a while.
650 ml. bottle. Nearly opaque mahogany with a lasting quarter inch of meringue on top. Nose is dark toffee, cocoa nibs, vanilla and fig. Flavor has the same mix on the front, then turns to some dark roasted walnut, marshmallow and mildly tart blackberry. Finish has some soy, dark bread, char and cured tobacco. Medium body has a smooth, near-medium carbonation and an excellent balance. Great dessert beer, but it’s thinned out just enough to be very gulpable. Hats off to the homebrewer, this is better than 90% of the "professional" craft brews on the market.
Draft at Khyber Pass. Very, very dark clear garnet pour. Soapy beige foam. Not much lace. Full roasty nose. Dark malts. Burnt nut shells. Dark chocolate liquorice. Carob. Red beets. Mushrooms. Cigarettes. The rye adds a good amount of spice. Interesting, sturdy Porter.
Pours a near black color with a khaki head. Caramel, toffee, roasty malt, light roasty malt, chocolate and coffee aroma. Roasty malt, chocolate, coffee, grain, caramel, toffee and toast flavors. Medium body and carbonation with a roasty malt, cocoa and toast finish.
Bottle from Wegmans in Allentown. They do a great job of labeling localities and genres. Pours a ruby brown with clingy beige head and lots of sediment. Dark, earthy aroma with plenty of toffee, chocolate, herbs, malt and nut. How a good brown ale should smell. Eponymous of Vermont but reminiscent of my first porter love, Anchor Porter. Flavor is dark and bitter and rather light in body, never coming fully through with the alcohol; wouldn’t think of this as an imperial. Delicious nevertheless.
Lots of roast and some dark chocolate. Black pour with good head and lacing. Bitter finish. Solve caramel. Easy drinking and well balanced.
Very dark brown pour with garnet highlights. Outstanding head volume and retention, average lacing.
Good light nose of cocoa, light roast and malt. Really not much going on.
Light medium body that is smooth. Outstanding carbonation / body balance with a bit of effervescence in the middle and a nice prickly finish.
The flavor profile is good but lacks complexity. Balance is good as is intensity. Flavor separation is lacking and results in mostly a cocoa flavor over a mildly bitter middle. A light sweetness arrives mid-palate but fails to pop the flavor into chocolate territory. Roast notes ascend from the middle on. The finish is a slow fade of roast and cocoa.
On tap at brewery in tulip. Roasted coffee, dry fruit aroma. Dark brown, reddish hue. Bitter chocolate, raisin, fig.
A coffee and sweet malt aroma. Pours a dark black color with a lasting tan well laced head. A delicious taste of coffee and a sweet chocolate malt. With a medium body and a bitter chocolate espresso like finish.
Poured from a bottle. Small brown sudsy head, nice chocolate brown color. Creamy texture, coffee notes, delicious.
Bottle. Dark brown beer with a dark tan head. Roast aroma. Roast and light cocoa flavor. Medium bodied. Roast and light cocoa lingers with light nuttiness and light coffee.
Draft at Row 34. Pours black with an inch of khaki head. Big roasted malt on the nose. Very roasty on the tongue. Fairly hop forward on the finish. Solid example of the style but I'm not getting a lot of the business that was conferred in the description.
Black pour from 22oz bottle at home. Tan bubbly head. Black. Licorice. Good stuff.
On tap at Mellow Fellow
Pours clear dark brown, big tan head, lots of lacing. Aroma of roasted malts, vanilla and coffee. The taste is roasty, chocolate, ashy and coffee
Tasty
Pours black though not impenetrable to light with a frothy tan head. Smells of roasted malts and chocolate. Has a pretty thick body with a light carbonation and creamy from the ever present head. Has bitter chocolate taste that finish dry. Not overly sweet like most Belgian style dark beers but offsetting flavors from the Belgian sugar. Easily drinkable and not overpowering in spite of high abv.
Poured from 22 oz. bottle.
Opaque, brown-black with a 2-finger tan head and good lacing.
Aroma of roasted malt, cocoa, roasted coffee, latte and anise.
Taste of roasted malt, dark chocolate, espresso, cocoa, berries, sweetness and a gentle hoppiness.
Medium/full body and medium carbonation.
Pine Box Rock Shop, Brooklyn tap: pours blackish with a light beige head. Aroma is chocolate, light coffee, sugar. Taste is sweet but not too much so. Low bitterness. Body is not too heavy. Alcohol is well covered. Easy to drink big beer. Was happy with.