Blue Pants Chocolate Oatmeal Porter

I've been looking forward to this one. I've only ever had two other beers from Blue Pants, but they were both very good. A chocolate oatmeal Porter is the kind of nearly boutique beer that caused me to start this blog in the first place. I've always liked porters, even though IPAs are kind of become my standby. But see what's down the pant leg of this brewery.

The black beer is only black to the uninitiated. To those of us in the know, it's a deep, chocolate-covered cherry of deep mahogany. The minimal head is bashful, and it runs away as soon as it can; it leaves only the faintest of rings around the top of the glass. The aroma is chocolate, coffee, oatmeal, and (very light) cherries.

First sip is stronger coffee than I would ever have imagined with light chocolate. This isn't one of those beers where the coffee is just a note from the malt, but the other ingredients are good enough to compliment it. Instead, someone made this a coffee beer and didn't put it on the label. I think I've made it pretty clear what I think of this kind of brewery. Still, it MIGHT be my sensitivity to coffee. Let's see.

Tip-in is light carbonation tingle that starts to surge pretty quickly; the flavor, however, is almost sweet with caramel, cherries, chocolate, and grains (with coffee in the distant background). The middle swims with a very nice oatmeal smoothness added to the tip-in and the carbonation fades back from the foreground as the coffee starts heading towards us. The finish is where the coffee and bitterness from the chocolate take hold to let you know they were behind this plan the whole time.

Bottom Line: I've often said there is nothing more delicious than a properly sorted porter. This isn't one.

1.5/5