Anderson Valley Deep Enders Dark Porter

Bottle. Dark brown pour with an average brown creamy head that was mostly lasting with fair lacing. Moderate roast chocolate caramel aroma. Medium body with a creamy texture with thin sediment. Medium sweet flavor with a sweet finish of moderate duration. Good brew and did meet my expectations.

Deep dark brown in color, almost black. Poured with a huge thick tan head that I didnt think would ever subside. With the nice packaging and reputation of Anderson Valley, I expected this to be full bodied and rich in roasty, chocolate flavors. This didnt happen though. A good aroma, with some of those roasty, dark chocolate scents. The flavor didnt stand up to this though. Weak, in the same flavors that I found in the aroma. It wasnt horrible, or offensive by any means, just not great.

Bomber. Big bubbled tan head sits atop a jet black body. Body is on the thin side with some dried fruit and just the faintest amount of cocoa. Somewhat bitter, somewhat hoppyand somewhat lactic.

This beer is exactly what you expect, straightforward and in your face with no apologies. Balanced, with a huge malty body that envelops your palate with lots of chocolate and roasted coffee creaminess.

didn’t think there was anything complex about this beer and that was a strength. This is a straightfoward porter. Starting from the appealing appearance with its dark brown body and large, foamy head, to the chocolate, bitter aftertaste, this was a solid ale. Aroma of roasted malts and sweet caramel predominated. Flavors of malts and chocolate were most evident. Nice medium body and ample carbonation. Dry aftertaste.

the label says something that is rather cliche on beer labels: "brewed from only the finest malted barley, hops, yeast"... yadda yadda. the finest, aye? golly, that’s good news. makes ya wonder who’s getting all the reeeeeally shitty malted barley and is brewing with guatemalan toilet water, don’t it? as far as i can tell, though, all the ingredients here are tip-top. dark and solid is the pour-- to get a coal-black looking porter to blush like this is an accomplishment. you’ve really got to embarass the old guy: you’ve got to get someone like marilyn monroe to nibble on his ear (under those circumstances, we’d all blush like a stop light). the head is almond shell in color, creamy and lasting. modest aroma of jack boot leather, dry grass, prune and spent coffee filter. the flavor is better still with woody tasting lightly sweetened malts, a few blackened bamboo fibers and darkly carmelized peach and raisin, an activist carbonation and just enough bitterness a la soggy lime to make it very interesting. light to medium body, no fireworks, but tasty. a nice beer. i’m just sooooo glad they didn’t choose to brew it from only the most wretched malted barley, dead lizards, axle grease and tobacco spit.

bottle pours a nice rosy brown with an erect tan head that won’t go down. aroma is sawdust like with a weak chocolate touch. flavor is seltzer, swiss miss hot chocolate mix without marshmallows. a biting pine-ish bitter that ain’t bad, but i really want more from this. the flavor just leaves me wanting. it is like a good porter drunk too cold, but this is not too cold. it is just hollow, so much so i think i hear an echo.

This opens a bit gushy, all tall mocha brown head that takes awhile to settle down and allow any additions to the glass. A pleasant mix of light chocolate and coffee dominate the aroma, and the flavor is exactly what was promised from the aroma. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a good middle of the road Porter.