Pizza Port Shark Attack Triple Red Ale

Brewed by Pizza Port (Solana Beach)
Style: American Strong Ale
Solana Beach, California USA

(n) One of the poorer offerings from Port, at least as far as bottles are concerned. Pours a tame, middling amber color, minimal head with little to no retention. Pretty muted on the nose- some tart floral notes, a bit of sharp citric booze. Flavor is pretty one-dimensional and unexciting. Shallow sharp hop bite, very little actual hop flavor to speak of, fair amount of booze. Some syrupy caramel sweetness. At least the bottle art is nice...

22oz bottle. Right away with the aroma and intial taste it is great. Wonderful hoppy slightly sweet malt aroma. Taste is nicely balanced with a mega hop taste. Some mild citrus and burnt fruit come through. A nice hop kick finish.

Sample at Alan’s HSC initation. Bottle from the Solana Beach location. The beer pours a luminous reddish-amber color with a thin beige head that dissipates fairly quickly. Spotty lacing on the glass. Toasted malt, orange rinds and hops in the nose. Medium-bodied and moderately bitter with hops, toasted malt and citrus flavors. The finish is hoppy with some grainy malt underneath, and the bitterness lingers for quite some time. Overall this is an enjoyable beer, and would be even better with just a little more balance.

Bottle. Mirky brown pour with no head and no visible action. Sweet fruity aroma, maybe some yeast, citrus hops and other hops. Flavor is the same, a lot like a west coast barleywine, with rich sweet / fruity malt and hop bitterness and citrus. Mouthfeel is a little harsh.

750mL bottle that read Port Brewing Shark Attack Double Red Ale (9.0%). Pours with hardly any head. Cloudy Amber body. Aroma of sweet fruits, apple, honey, some citrus and spicey hops. Taste is very nice malts with spice and a sweet malt backbone. Nice hop balance in the finish. Syrupy body with hadly any carbonation. Very nice brew overall.

Man, does this brewery do anything less than ass-kicking? I think not! American strong, imperial red, whateva. This is an extremely competent, smoothly satisfying ale that starts off with fruity hops, but reminds you of its strength with a dash of bite and, dare I say, arrogance. Creamy body to deliver the malts, and oh man what a combo. I want to rent an apartment next to Port Brewing, and stumble home every night.

Once again Port knocks one out of the ballpark. Very red. Flavor is double malts and double hops hitting your tongue, confusing it royally. Mostly bittering hops as opposed to the floral grassy type. That’s where it differs from other Doublereds. Aroma is the malt, which is pretty powerful. Nose has a vapor or two of the 9%, but that’s OK.

Bottle. Aroma of rich, sweet, roasted malt, graham cracker, piney hops, background citrus hops. Flavor still richly malt based with the same notes, some dark fruits floating about. Very solid strong red.