Picture City Porter - Ladyface Ale Companie

UCLABrewN84

California

3.63/5  rDev -9.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On nitro tap at Ladyface Ale Companie in Agoura Hills, CA.

Pours an almost opaque super dark brown with a khaki head that settles to dense cap on top of the beer. Foamy chunks of lace form on the glass on the drink down. Smell is of dark roasted malt, cocoa, and coffee beans. Taste is very much the same but the flavors are somewhat muted. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a creamy mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good porter but it smells better than it tastes.

Serving type: nitro-tap

03-25-2012 01:46:24 | More by UCLABrewN84

wethorseblanket

California

4.13/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

On tap @ Ladyface. Reviewed from notes.

A: Pours black with a super fine, nitro induced, mocha head. Sprinkles of ground coffee placed on top from a shaker can.

N: Luscious coffee. Mildly like fresh espresso, but this could be from the grounds and not from the actual beer.

T: A creamy, dreamy coffee shake. Some astringent notes along with roast, dark chocolate, and char. A faintly earthy/mushroomy finish.

M: Rich, smooth and creamy. Nice carb.

O: Slightly biased due to love of coffee, but this one is pretty darn good. Definitely try this.

Serving type: nitro-tap

10-28-2011 23:56:30 | More by wethorseblanket

DarthKostrizer

California

4.1/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Look: Black ad totally opaque with a brown circle on the bottom and a great 1/2 inch tan head and perfect retention with coffee grounds sprinkled on top. Nice touch

Smell: Unfortunately the only thing you smell is the coffee grounds sprinkled on top but that is not a bad thing you just dont smell any characteristics of the beer

Taste: Upfront is a great chocolate flavor but then you get a whiff of the coffee ground and it takes over and totally impacts the flavor so it pretty much finishes with a roasted coffee note

Mouthfeel: Medium but I would like it just a bit thicker and perfectly carbonated

Overall: Once I took the coffee grounds out of the head it became a really good beer. Highly recommended

Serving type: nitro-tap

09-23-2011 01:53:48 | More by DarthKostrizer

charlzm

California

3.8/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Consumed July 16th, 2011 at Ladyface Ale Companie Alehouse and Brasserie.

Essentially black in the glass, this beer is crowned with a very thin off-white head. Atop this is sprinkled a small smattering of aromatic ground coffee.

Not surprisingly, the aroma is ground coffee. As I cant' smell the beer AT ALL, I am dinging the beer rating; although the end result is delicious, I have no idea what the BEER smelled like.

Flavor has proper porter qualities: mild flavor of roasted malts (though not to the level of a stout), a dash of sweetness and a trace of an ever-so-slightly sour note. Coffee doesn't appear until the end. Chocolate in the aftertaste as well. Nice.

Mouthfeel is slightly thin, as is appropriate.

Easily drinkable, a pint of the vanished with amazing rapidity.

Serving type: on-tap

07-19-2011 19:21:10 | More by charlzm

SpdKilz

Illinois

4.18/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

I live literally five minutes from Ladyface and always forget to review their beers.

Appearance - Poured into a pint glass with about a finger of mocha colored head with slight coffee grounds put on top. The head subsides slowly leaving nice looking lacing. Great presentation.

Smell - The aroma is quite amazing. Now, I'm not a hundred percent sure this is purely from the coffee grounds on top, or if it is from the actual beer itself. However, there is an amazing coffee aroma, bittersweet chocolate, and roast.

Taste - A strong coffee flavor, which makes me think more and more that this is an outstanding coffee infused porter and not just relying on the coffee grounds on top to pass it as such. A nice sweetness to it rather than a bitter coffee/roast (though there is a hint) which makes this very balanced in my opinion. My mother was in town visiting and I made her try this and even she admitted it was good (coming from someone who never drinks beer).

Mouthfeel - A bit thin, lower carbonation, finishes dry.

Drinkability - Very much so. A very enjoyable beer, and honestly my favorite thus far from Ladyface. I always get this when I go to Ladyface. A nice, solid, quaffable coffee porter.

Serving type: bottle

01-17-2011 17:14:51 | More by SpdKilz

davod23

California

3.38/5  rDev -15.7%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This one is a tough one to review. Had on-tap at Ladyface.

The appearance is beautiful. Deep black color, an inch of creamy off-white head. Cracked coffee grounds on top make for an excellent appearance. This is the one place in the review that I can reward them for adding the coffee grounds.

OK, listen, this beer smells amazing. But it's almost straight coffee, with a tendril or two of smoke. But the reason that it smells this robust is because of the coffee grounds they put on top of the head. I don't think that the beer itself is smelling this robust and full - I'm smelling the garnish instead. If the beer truly smelled like this, I would give it a straight 5. But it doesn't, so I won't.

The taste is not memorable. It's not atypical or bad for a porter, just not anything to write home about. Coffee, a bit of chocolate and dark malt characteristic. Subdued.

Mouthfeel: I like nitro, especially for mouthfeel. Smooth.

Drinkability is great. This goes down easy, partially due to the mouthfeel.

I think Ladyface can do better than this. Not bad, but just not great. Looking forward to trying their other beers though.

Serving type: nitro-tap

09-15-2010 23:02:10 | More by davod23

SShelly

California

4.08/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Had at the bar in the brewery.

First off i couldnt quite catch the bartender quick enough to tell him to not put coffe grounds on top, not sure why they do this but wasnt appealing to me...

Pours a dark black with offwhite creamy head, aroma is heavy chocolate, and coffee (I guess the grounds did help with the aroma).

Flavor is chocolate and smooth silky roast malt, really nice finish, easy drinker that I will definetly be getting again.

Serving type: on-tap

07-22-2010 16:28:04 | More by SShelly

womencantsail

California

4.1/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A: The pour is a very dark brown color with a nice tan head on it.

S: Plenty of coffee to this one (which would make sense for a coffee porter), along with a nice roast and touch of chocolate underneath.

T: A good coffee flavor along with a good sweetness that you don't always find in a porter. The chocolate and roast are there and there is also a touch of bitterness.

M: The body is medium with a somewhat low level of carbonation, perhaps from the growler serving.

D: A really nice porter and one of the better beers I've had from Ladyface. I wouldn't mind having a glass of this one again.

Serving type: growler

06-28-2010 07:37:39 | More by womencantsail

ahophead

California

4.55/5  rDev +13.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This is a solid kick ass porter!!!! I asked for it without the coffee grounds on top as I don't like gritty beer!!! Great job for the first porter brewed here. The beer will continue to be better as time goes on and Griff gets the hang of his new equipment. He hit a home run on this beer, get some while you can!!!!

Serving type: on-tap

02-13-2010 17:54:09 | More by ahophead

getkrunkhoe

California

4.25/5  rDev +6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

This is... DIFFERENT.

Coffee infused porter with a great mouthfeel, and not to overpowering.on to the review...

App- very nice dark brown color with .5 inch head. on top was a nice garnish of cracked/ground coffee.great presentation.

Ar- unfortunately I only get COFFEE, not much else. However there is some smokey notes present. As much as I like the garnish, it is very fragant, which can take away from the beer.

T- mild chocolate, coffee (obviously), very faint...but hops do come out, small hint of vanilla(?).

MF/D- very nice rich texture,coats the mouth well, but not overpowering/over the top. very nice session beer.SMOOTH also comes to mind.

Serving type: nitro-tap

02-13-2010 04:58:34 | More by getkrunkhoe