Ten Pin Porter! - Ska Brewing Co.

tdm168

North Carolina

3.59/5  rDev -7.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A - dark brownish black with absolutely no head to speak of

S - creamy chocolate, roasted malts

T - chocolate, roasted malts, raisins, figs, plums

M - a bit thin, medium bodied, lightly carbonated

This beer is a bit disappointing. The appearance and mouthfeel both present as flat. The flavor is OK, but it lacks any complexity and could use a bit of hop bitterness for balance. This is easy to drink, but in the end forgettable. I'll pass in the future.

Serving type: bottle

04-04-2013 00:52:20 | More by tdm168

cousineddy

Illinois

4.11/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a bottle into a samuel adams perfect pint glass.

Appearance: pours a deep rich onyx, reminds me of the color of black licorice. Virtually no head and no lacing.

Smell: Roasted malts slight hoppy backnotes. toasted bread

Taste: Toasty bread and biscuits. Dark chocolate and weak coffee.

Mouthfeel. slippery with almost no carbonation, flatter than expected but not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall: Solid porter, i was dissapointed with the lack of head. Would be open to trying this one again.

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2013 03:41:33 | More by cousineddy

KajII

North Carolina

3.18/5  rDev -17.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

[Suggested Glassware: Nonic Pint]

The pour was a murky dark brown with an average (1-2 finger) light brown frothy head that receded down to a medium film and large collar thus creating good runny lacing.

The aroma was on the mild side with a roasted dark bread malt, light resin hops and a sweaty yeast along with notes of milk chocolate and coffee.

The taste was lightly roasty and somewhat sweet with a touch of chocolate from the onset, progressing with a light bitterness and a nice note of coffee towards the finish. The flavor lasted an average time proceeding the swallow with a slight bitter roastiness left behind.

Mouthfeel was a few shades below medium in body with a thin watery texture and a soft carbonation.

Overall I found this brew to be rather thin for a Porter, although it was quite flavorful and very easy going down...

http://www.facebook.com/KAJIIsBeerReviews

Serving type: bottle

11-29-2012 00:35:45 | More by KajII

Twincrasher

4.23/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Nice look for a porter. Dark brown with tan head. Good retention.

S: Should have sipped much warmer. Still, at cold temps a very chocolate-like aroma.

T: Balanced hop and sweet unfermented sugars. Really nice.

M: Good.

O: Very nice porter. Not a big fan usually. Nice job.

Serving type: bottle

11-26-2012 20:35:13 | More by Twincrasher

Minkybut

Virginia

3.98/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

WOW! what a great beer. I poured this beer into my tumbler at 45 degrees and watched the blackness set in . Lacing was good after sucking off the tan head. The beer was malty with yummy mocha hits playing with the taste buds. I will certainly buy this beer again.

Serving type: bottle

11-05-2012 22:59:22 | More by Minkybut

StonedTrippin

Colorado

3.98/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

didnt care for the nefarious ten pin imperial version, so i tried this semi doubtfully. i was impressed though. it pours chocolatey dark brown with a very minimal tan head thats reduced to patches after just a minute or so. it smells like deep dark smokey malts and cocoa powder. theres also a bitterness to this, but at this point im unsure if is from the hops of from burnt malt. the flavor confirms its hops, surprisingly hoppy on the tail end. theres plenty of chocolate going on too, raw and unrefined, but just in a supporting role. feel is smooth and drinkable, well enough carbonated for a porter, and the finish is long and layered. overal much much much better th.n its imperial big brother. this is a yummy session porter, perfect for autumn,

Serving type: bottle

10-21-2012 03:47:49 | More by StonedTrippin

LXIXME

New Mexico

4.68/5  rDev +20.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Small tan head quickly dies into practically no lacing above a super dark brown to black colored porter.

Light aroma of roasted to almost burnt chocolate malts aroma.

Dark roasted chocolate and light coffee malt tastes that has a slight bitterness to it.

A dry aftertaste that harbors some of the dark chocolate malts on this creamy full bodied beer.

A very worthy porter.

Serving type: bottle

09-09-2012 20:26:21 | More by LXIXME

mulder1010

Australia

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

355 ML bottle poured into a tulip

Thanks to my GF for bringing back a bottle from the brewery on her US trip

A-- Poured a dark cola color and settled a brownish black color with good ruby highlights. Nearly clear when shown to light. Half finger of light milk chocolate head that swiftly fell to the same color of film and collar. Good spotty lacing with this.

S-- Soft at first but built well. Coffee, warm roast, earth, and dark chocolate. Nose gets bigger and more rounded as it warms.

T-- A bit thin but very acceptable. Dairy milk, roast malts, soft coffee, and a little brown sugar. Slightly thin at the start but it builds quite well.

M-- Light bodied and medium to low carbonation. Good long lasting earthy, bitter and acidic coffee, bitter chocolate, caramel and roast finish. Once again really builds well and warms up quite well.

O-- Really good low ABV porter. Quite complex and well built for a beer like this. Something like this is quite good for a nice cool evening in Durango. Top notch stuff

Serving type: bottle

07-23-2012 10:30:11 | More by mulder1010

kawilliams81

Illinois

3.8/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Jester King pint.

A- pours black with a 1 finger beige head. Very minimal lacing bubbles.

S- roasted malts, coffee and some dark chocolate.

T- lactose, dark chocolate, and roasted malts.

M- light body and carbonation. Silky and very smooth.

O- nice porter but nothing stands out.

Serving type: bottle

05-17-2012 23:51:58 | More by kawilliams81

JackieTH

Minnesota

4.23/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours an attractive deep brown with ruby highlights around the edges. A half inch of tan foam that persists nicely and leaves fits and rings of lace. Smells pleasantly of mild coffee, chocolate, banana, and roasted malt. Taste follows the same elements presented to the nose almost precisely, its slightly sweet but adds a washing of fruity hop. Body seems lighter than I'd expect. The mouthfeel is velvety with a good level of carbonation. Clean finish that leaves you riding a fading wave of roasted..just to the edge of burnt..malt. Very good porter.

Serving type: bottle

04-09-2012 02:52:14 | More by JackieTH

TheCondor

Missouri

4.08/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Grabbed this brew in a mix-and-match six pack at the store the other day. Hadn’t heard much about Ska Brewing, but the label was fancy and I needed a few more beers to round out my sixer of porters. So I grabbed this basically because of the snazzy packaging. Who says colorful packaging doesn’t work on adults? Poured from the bottle into an oversized wine glass.

Appearance – Pours a nice super dark brown with a big three finger tan head that takes a while to settle down. Once it does it leaves mediocre lacing, but otherwise the appearance of this porter is substantial.

Smell – Roasted malts, coffee, the lightest fruit essence. The dark roasts and coffee are certainly the dominating feature.

Taste – Chocolate, coffee, and the roasted malts and barley. There is a strong roast element to this brew, and it’s nice.

Mouthfeel – Creamy, pretty rich, good body and carbonation. Leaves a pleasant aftertaste.

Overall – This is a good brew, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a sessionable porter. At 5.5 ABV it won’t overwhelm you with alcohol, tastes great, and the bottle makes a good conversation starter! In all seriousness, this is a good porter, and I would absolutely buy it again.

Serving type: bottle

02-27-2012 03:07:53 | More by TheCondor

Kornoms

Texas

4.88/5  rDev +26.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Had this beer on tap and it was amazing! Pours a dark brown with a caramel colored head. The smell has notes of chocolate, a bit of toffee, and roasted malts. The taste is similar to the smell, but with a bit of extra flavors (banana?) and a sweetness from the yeast that make the overall drinking experience excellent.

Serving type: on-tap

02-24-2012 20:07:20 | More by Kornoms

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.7/5  rDev -4.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Dark brown pour, slight beige head, pretty thin 1/4" maybe, not much in the way of lacing or retention of the small amount that was there.

A mix of toffee, roasted black malt aroma. Taste of a little bit of caramel, a little bit of fruityness, throw in a scintilla of hops. Mouthfeel is a little thinner than a lot of porters these days, but far from a detraction or negative aspect of the beer. Chocolate existence is pretty mild too, just like every other aspect here, except for drinkability.

Pretty solid all the way around. A good 6 pack beer on a mild day.

Serving type: on-tap

01-03-2012 22:48:25 | More by Beerandraiderfan

Reaper16

Alabama

3.88/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

12oz. bottle served into a nonic pint glass

Pours a nice dark chestnut color with warm overtones of red. It actually reminds me of a Guinness Draught from bottles, only a shade lighter. Less than half a finger of head, but it settles down to a consistent and lasting beige ring.

This is a reliable porter. When you think porter, you probably think of the milk chocolate and hoppy twinge that Ten Pin Porter delivers. The most surprising aromas are chicory and mint. This is a quite minty porter, which is a welcome surprise. It works.

The most impressive aspect of Ten Pin Porter is how unified it is. I mean that in the sense that it is difficult to pick out individual flavors here. It's a very consistent, coherent flavor profile. It's a hoppy American porter, certainly, and those hops lend a minty/fruity element to the milk chocolate and slight roast. But mostly, this beer doesn't evolve from first taste through the finish. It is everything at once, and at all times. It tastes good. This is a good porter.

This is pretty thin, even for a porter. It's not really bad at all, but it is noticeably insubstantial.

Overall, this is a good American Porter. It's light, but full of flavor. It's coherent and consistent. I'd love to put back a couple of pints of this at a local bar.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2012 21:52:27 | More by Reaper16

intensify

Colorado

4.8/5  rDev +24%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Live Tasting

Picked up this about a week ago and SKA Brewing Company is about 4 hours from my town so it's pretty fresh.

A- Dark color with a nice caramel color head. The body looks exactly like coca-cola.

S- Chocolate malts and a slight toffee.Slight banana. Nothing much else going on. What i do smell is excellent.

T- Taste's almost like it smells, but with a kick. Slight taste of banana with some toffee.

M- Nice thick feel. Sticks to your tongue and probably your ribs. Syrupy but in a good way.

I would definatly buy this beer again. the price was reasonable and i can get it pretty much anytime so i expect to have some more of these in my fridge.

Serving type: bottle

12-25-2011 04:49:54 | More by intensify

Tone

Missouri

3.48/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours a dark brown color. 1/4 inch head of an off-white color. slight retention and slight lacing. Smells of sweet malt, slight alcohol, roasted malt, hint of hops, slight caramel malt, and hint of dark citrus. Fits the style of an American Porter. Mouth feel is sharp and crisp, with an average carbonation level. Tastes of roasted malt, sweet malt, slight caramel malt, hint of hops, and a hint of dark citrus. Overall, good blend and body.

Serving type: bottle

11-17-2011 15:41:17 | More by Tone

blakelive784

Colorado

3.95/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 oz bottle poured into an oversized wine glass:

A - Pours an extremely dark brown/black head with a weak half finger, tan head. The head disappears quickly.

S - Semi-sweet chocolate and roasted malts. Some sweet fruity notes (perhaps banana?). Quite mild in strength.

T -Nice cream on the open. Roasted barley, chocolate and coffee notes. Definite banana esters as predicted by the nose. No hops characteristics to speak of.

M - Full bodied and coarse. Dry on the finish.

D - A good all around porter. Built well with distinct flavors. I'd certainly have this one again.

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2011 00:54:18 | More by blakelive784

paxchristi

Missouri

4/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from 12oz. bottle into stein.

Appearance: Pours a dark chocolate brown porter that is hardly opaque but is a very dark mahogany hue with perhaps some extremely dark red hues where it is penetrated by light. The head is a bubbly head that is hardly acceptable for a good porter. It fizzles within moments, and I'm left looking at what seems to be a very thin porter.

Smell: Some medium roasted sweet malts with hints of light roast coffees. I caught perhaps even the lightest note of booze. At 5.5ABV, I should smell no booze in a porter. It all seems really underpowered. Not very complex nose.

Taste: Fortunately, the taste is a bit more full than the nose-- though it certainly follows suit but with extras. It still has a very good flavor. The malt gives it its body and the coffees and sweeter malts and sweet yeasts give it some accents that make a very smooth flavor. This time around, I caught an ever so slight hint of chocolate cherries.

Mouth: Very medium bodied for a porter-- almost too light for my own personal taste. I prefer my porters much thicker and much richer. However, its going for a drinkable porter. It probably accomplishes that.

Overall: A pretty good porter with an unusually high drinkability. I probably won't ever buy this one out of the bottle again. If I find it on tap, I might give it another whorl. I'm underwhelmed for what I expected, but I'm glad I tried it. It's definitely unique, but just not something I'm going to write home to mom for.

EDIT 10/8/2011: Probably a bit better in the taste as it warms. There are some pretty decent chocolate and subtle chocolate notes that I didn't notice before. I've noticed that I'm underwhelmed by American Porters in general. I also previously drank this right after I had a Founders Porter...which is light-years better.

EDIT 10/13/2011: Vanilla notes in the nose. I've never had a beer grow on me more than this one. I will buy again when I want a good porter. I recommend this one totally. Grade has been adjusted.

Serving type: bottle

09-27-2011 01:43:03 | More by paxchristi

JoeAmerican77

Colorado

3.43/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Nicely tuned ale, black and tan body and head....If you picked up a dark chocolate booze infused candy, this is what your smelling

I can definitly pick up alcohol which is strange as it isn't too high in ABV at 5.5 also tasted is figs, and roasted malts, a little bittering as it warms.

A medium bodied buddy with low carbonation

Overall not a bad porter, i'd give it a try if your new to beer and want a simple intro to American or UK Porters

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2011 00:55:10 | More by JoeAmerican77

xylophonica

Australia

3.68/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured from a 355ml bottle, note the ABV on this bottle states 5.3%.

A - Dark coffee coloured. There's a touch of red shining through but little head of which to speak.

S - Dark chocolate and sweet sugary caramel scents.

T - Fairly smooth and surprisingly sweet. Has a solid malty flavour with some other sweetish port flavours. Good sensation of rich fruity shiraz.

M - Smooth and quite subdued. A bit plain, very little happening.

O - Enjoyable sweet porter. A good example of the style but not the best.

Serving type: bottle

06-23-2011 11:16:26 | More by xylophonica

BeerLover99

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A: deep brown body, 1 finger head, ok lacin

S: nutty, smoky, mild cocoa, malt

T: sweet nutty, big malt, mild bitter semi-dry finish

M: med body, hint of semi-dry mouth

O: Just ok, not my favorite. Seems a little
light in the body. Sessionable porter.

SOLID, NOT A MUST TRY!

Serving type: bottle

06-19-2011 22:15:50 | More by BeerLover99

mikesgroove

South Carolina

4.33/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

dark brown in color and nearly completely opaque. A huge brown head then rose up over the top of it and took forever to settle down, only actually fading depositing large amounts of side glass lacing.

Lots of wonderful chocolate notes, fresh brewed coffee with that delicate sweetness added in that just made the whole thing really come together wonderfully. Smooth mellow taste here. chocolate right up in your face, smooth notes of sugar mixed in along with hints of light vanilla. Wonderful feel here with deleicate carbonation that avoided the too filling side of it. it was almost too good, and too easy to drink, this went down way too fast.

Serving type: bottle

06-15-2011 02:15:31 | More by mikesgroove

DavoleBomb

Ohio

3.68/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured into a pint glass.

3.0 A: Black color. Just over one finger of frothy light brown head with less than average retention and no lacing.

4.5 S: Wonderful! Chock full of chocolate and sweet caramel. Rich maltiness and lightly grainy. Not overly complex, but a pleasure to sniff.

3.5 T: Taste is a bit disappointing after the nose, but it isn't bad. Lighter than I expected, but still a good hit of chocolate. Lighter on the caramel though. Slightly grainy and slightly roasty. Pretty good.

3.5 M: Lighter medium body. Good moderate carbonation. Could be creamier, but smooth enough.

3.5 D: I'm drink this again. It's a decent beer. I'd prefer it to be a bit thicker, but otherwise solid.

Serving type: bottle

06-12-2011 04:35:47 | More by DavoleBomb

WoodBrew

Illinois

4/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Just got back from Disney vacation and need to unwind with a couple of Ten Pin Porters from SKA. The appearance is quite nice...dark rich color with nice ecru creamy head. The smell has a light roast and malt nose. The taste is pretty darn good. SKA was able to get a decent body on a porter without selling their sole to high ABV. There roastyness hits well to start then comes off the pallete clean, but leaves just enough to keep the taste going. The mouthfeel is beautiful for a nice taste porter....perfect for cooler nights. Absolutely worth a try!

Serving type: bottle

06-11-2011 02:46:48 | More by WoodBrew

claytong

Vermont

3.48/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

im a bit harsh since im not a huge porter drinker. this one is a bit bitter for my taste and light at that for such a robust beer. i like some heat or spice or heavy sweets.
roasty, malty (not terribly strong), maybe ill try to another to see if everyone is getting something im not here, not getting caramel or molasses. bitter choc, yes.

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2011 05:47:07 | More by claytong