Chocolate Porter - Bayhawk Ales

charlzm

California

2.28/5  rDev -14.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

Consumed July 23rd, 2012. Served at 45 degrees F.

Beer pours into a standard pint glass a very deep, transparent brown with lighter brown highlights. A frothy three-finger light tan head erupts, settling down before too long to less than a finger of creamy foam that only barely sticks to the sides of the glass.

Aroma: very slight roasted malt with a hint of red grape. A touch of must and a slight metallic note as well.

On the tongue, this beer does not improve. Strangely sweet, lightly metallic and again featuring a slight red grape character, there is also the expected bitter roasted malt and yes, even a dash of weak chocolate. A little sourness as well. The flavor is a mess, but it's not straight up offensive. At least not at first...

Mouthfeel: as expected for a porter, this beer is medium bodied and a little creamy.

Despite my efforts, as the beer warmed above cellar temp, the flavors took on a less tolerable character until I finally had to introduce most of the bomber to the drain.

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2012 03:19:07 | More by charlzm

Beerrenda

California

4/5  rDev +50.4%

03-23-2013 02:29:50 | More by Beerrenda

swungomonkey

3.75/5  rDev +41%

02-24-2013 18:48:21 | More by swungomonkey

t0rin0

California

2.5/5  rDev -6%

11-08-2012 19:56:34 | More by t0rin0

kliljedahl

Iowa

1.25/5  rDev -53%

10-31-2012 16:34:55 | More by kliljedahl

kojevergas

California

2.68/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

1 pint 6 fl oz brown glass bottle with standard pressure cap acquired at Cap N Cork Market in Los Feliz for $3.99 and served into a Uinta pilsner glass in me gaff in low altitude Los Angeles, California. Reviewed live. Expectations are above average; I liked their honey blonde but the current ratings for this beer are exceptionally low.

Served straight from the refrigerator and allowed to warm over the course of consumption. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

A: Pours a four finger rich khaki-light tan head of good cream, thickness, and retention. Body colour is a very dark nontransparent black. It appears weaker than most beers in the style, not quite a solid black. Opaque.

Sm: Weak dark malts and stale cream. Comes off a bit like a poorly executed schwarzbier. Some chocolate malt. An average strength aroma.

T: Dark malts, horridly imbalance cream, a mess of chocolate malt, a strange faux-vanilla artificial note. Quite the hodgepodge. This is not a beer to examine for balance by any means. No real roast comes through. The chocolate is about as noncommittal as it gets. I don't know what they were going for but this is rather meh. Presence weakens in the third act. It lacks a consistent body.

Mf: Its best attribute. Smooth, wet, silky, even a touch creamy. Pretty well executed, if uneven around the climax. For a porter, this is actually a very well done mouthfeel. It's a shame it doesn't match the specific flavours here.

Dr: Drinkable but lackluster. I wouldn't get this again. Falls far afield of whatever it was trying to be. Very middling and undercooked. With the plethora of better beers in the style out there, this is sure to get lost in the mix. There are elements of the beer that really succeed, but ultimately its lack of balance really drags it down.

A poor candidate for aging.

I will say that it seems like others might be being pretty hard on this one, mainly by clinging too closely to their idea of style conventions. I imagine if the beer was the exact same only called "Chocolate Schwarzbier" and categorized similarly, it would have much higher ratings. An unfortunate truth.

C-

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2012 05:00:54 | More by kojevergas

harpus

Alabama

2.5/5  rDev -6%

10-16-2012 15:47:48 | More by harpus

Blackwolf

2.3/5  rDev -13.5%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a bomber to pint glass.

A- dark burgundy body, khaki head that settled quickly, very little lacing.

S- The aroma opened up more as the beer settled. Dark roasted malt, some light fruit. Kinda has a "guinnessy" smell honestly.

T- Light roasted malt and copper. Really not enjoying it too much. Some bittersweet finish, almost catch some coffee in it, but that metallic taste just consumes you! =/

MF- Too light bodied for a porter. Slick and bottoms out fast.

O- I couldn't wait to finish it just to get to my next review. I don't really enjoy much of anything about this beer, especially for the style. They could maybe get away with making a dark lager perhaps, but this is a very poorly crafted porter. Makes me very sad to say so.

Serving type: bottle

09-20-2012 04:38:39 | More by Blackwolf

beerpadawan

California

3/5  rDev +12.8%

08-27-2012 00:15:49 | More by beerpadawan

jriggins6

Georgia

2/5  rDev -24.8%

06-14-2012 00:43:07 | More by jriggins6

JasonB

2.75/5  rDev +3.4%

05-02-2012 06:39:35 | More by JasonB

AApparel

California

3.75/5  rDev +41%

03-25-2012 23:28:25 | More by AApparel

tirlzx

California

3/5  rDev +12.8%

03-03-2012 16:20:35 | More by tirlzx

ezperkins2

California

1.5/5  rDev -43.6%

02-04-2012 19:17:55 | More by ezperkins2

EddieG28

California

3.5/5  rDev +31.6%

02-01-2012 07:45:53 | More by EddieG28

pperez38

California

2.5/5  rDev -6%

01-22-2012 17:04:23 | More by pperez38

imperialking

Illinois

2.5/5  rDev -6%

01-09-2012 00:27:22 | More by imperialking

rob99er

California

4/5  rDev +50.4%

01-08-2012 04:58:08 | More by rob99er

tbeq00

California

4/5  rDev +50.4%

12-09-2011 04:55:33 | More by tbeq00

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

2.6/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Thin brown presence in the bottle, beige head, could be thicker looking. Aroma did impart chocolate, so it delivered in that arena. Wasn't pungent or whatnot, but it was standard.

A little bit of chocolate in the taste, but really, this is a brown ale dressed up as a porter with some chocolate malt. Mild, super mild roast notes. They skimped. They skimped on the amount of malt. They skimped on the chocolate. They skimped on roasting. I've had some homebrews that claimed to be stouts, porters, black ales that were simply brown ale variations. This was reminiscient of those.

Cheap for a reason. Cheap in, cheap out.

Serving type: bottle

11-28-2011 22:52:59 | More by Beerandraiderfan

Murrhey

Montana

1.7/5  rDev -36.1%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

22 oz bottle poured in a pint glass

A- Nice deep roast coffee color. No head to speak of. Even less lacing. Can't see any carbonation. Not off to a great start.

S- Roast (almost burnt) malts. Coffee. Can't smell any chocolate. Bummer.

T- Whoa. Very thin roast flavor. Not complex, little chocolate tones. Soapy.

M- Way too thin. This is an IPA trapped in a Porter's body.

O- Nope. This might be my first failing beer. Not happy with what I was presented at all. Bought the beer because of the price at BevMo...now I see why it was so low.

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2011 04:27:01 | More by Murrhey

DrJay

Massachusetts

3.03/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Very dark with brown edges and a thin layer of tan bubbles coating the beer and sides of the glass. Bitter chocolate aroma with light roast and toffee. Creamy texture medium plus bodied with lowish carbonation. It's fairly bitter with mild malty sweetness, grassy with some alcohol and slight tartness present. I enjoyed the aroma, but the flavour seemed off to me.

Serving type: bottle

08-26-2011 00:22:17 | More by DrJay

timmos1

California

3.6/5  rDev +35.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.5

Oh how we love to jump on bandwagons good or bad. I drank this beer before reading any reviews. Wanted to see if anything good comes out of orange county. First, it doesn't taste like other choc porters. I will agree to that. But, there are a lot of choc porters out there and if you want to copy one then why bother. What I liked was the smoothness and sweetness. Im not a big fan of heavy coffee overtones and this is really lacking in coffee, but for me that is a plus. Its more like milk chocolate than dark chocaolate. I like this beer, its lighter and ok for summer. Its goes down easy for me and I like a change. Sweet instead of bitter ok. If I want a coffee or bitter choc ale then I go with others (firestone walker,rogue etc). This is unique I will give you that.

Serving type: bottle

08-11-2011 05:29:49 | More by timmos1

Retsinis

California

2.75/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Having this as I type this, on draft at McG's. Always passed on the bottle due to the reviews here, but they just tapped it, so I know its a least, well hopefully, fresh.

A: Served in a pint glass, the beer pours a dark cloudy brown with light beige hue on the edges. About a full inch of head slowly settled to about a quarter inch. It leaves a lot of sticky lacing. Looks pretty good.

S: mild dark chocolate, some coffee, a touch of brown sugar, and mild roasted malt.

T: pretty much mirrors the nose. All the flavors are there, but there a bit dull. Mild coffee, chocolate, lightly roasted malt, and a bleak mild bitterness.

M: medium to high carbonation, light feel, and thin for a porter.

O: barely average. It was light and a beer. It was a porter, but a forgetable one. It had some flavor, but didn't really satisfy. Fro
m the 60+ bottle reviews and only 7 or so tap reviews. It would appear that it is marginally better on tap...but that ain't saying much.

Serving type: on-tap

05-14-2011 01:20:18 | More by Retsinis

womencantsail

California

1.53/5  rDev -42.5%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1

Now this is a beer truly worthy of tick #1900.

A: The beer pours an appropriate color for a porter: dark brown, or there abouts. However, the foam fills up about three-quarters of the glass.

S: Oh what have we here...green olives dominate the aroma (that can't be good). Other vegetables seem to fill the air as I sniff the glass. Definitely some vinegar and spoiled chocolate with a bit of roast and a generally acidic character.

T: It tastes like olives too. Acidic and acetic with burnt malts and no chocolate whatsoever. The intensely overcarbonated nature of the beer doesn't do much to help it out, either. Maybe some old coffee grounds, too.

M: The body is light to medium with an almost scouring level of carbonation.

D: Oh Bayhawk, you know how to bring the fail. This is just a terrible, terrible beer.

Serving type: bottle

02-01-2011 08:18:06 | More by womencantsail