Beer O'Clock: Chocolate Milk Peanut Butter Porter

As much as I love my classic stouts and porters, every once and a while I like to try those that have been flavoured, be it vanilla, raspberry, or pretzel. Some brewers like to add extra sweetness to make the stout or porter more like a dessert, like Souther Tier's Crème Brulée Stout (which is no longer available on their Web site) or some of the crazy flavoured brews from Rogue Brewery (again, no longer available on their Web site).

I absolutely love when a brewer adds some lactose to a stout or porter, giving it a milky creaminess that makes me think of chocolate chip cookies. Some of my favourite additions to these dark ales include vanilla, chocolate, and (lately) peanut butter.

Some time back, I reviewed a peanut butter and raspberry milkshake stout that had me wanting to try peanut butter in my stout again, and on my last visit to my friendly neighbourhood LCBO, I spied a porter that was displayed at the checkout, as I was purchasing a bottle of wine to give a friend for his birthday.

I added two cans to my purchase.

I didn't recognize the brewery and noticed that it is located in Sarnia, Ontario. As far as I can remember, I've never had beer from this Southern Ontario city before, either. So it was time to give city, brewery, and brew a try.

Chocolate Milk Peanut Butter Porter (6.2 % ABV; 30 IBUs)
Imperial City Brew House
Sarnia ON

Appearance: pours a dark walnut with a foamy taupe head that risked overflowing in the glass but eventually settled to a solid cap.

Nose: peanut butter permeates the room—you don't need to stick your nose into the glass. But when you do stick your nose in and give a sniff, you can cut through the peanut butter and capture aromas of creamy milk chocolate.

Palate: I thought that the peanut butter would lead the way but it's the chocolate that I detected first. The peanut butter comes up on the porter's flanks and carry the brew to a perfect marriage of chocolate and peanut butter. In the lengthy finish left me with the slightly bitter taste of peanut skins and made me wonder if the brewer shelled the legumes and threw both peanuts and skins into the mash. The peanut flavour seems to only give the impression of peanut butter because of the creamy lactose.

There are no nuts used in the making of this porter, nor is there even any chocolate. The ingredients list boasts both natural and artificial flavour, and as disappointing as that sounded to me, I was glad that this brew wasn't going to turn away those who had nut allergies.

Overall impression: this is a nice flavoured porter that falls squarely in the dessert category. It filled me up after lunch and left me feeling satisfied. Despite the lack of actual peanut butter or chocolate, it tastes like the real thing and the balance of both flavours makes for a satisfying bevvy. If you like flavoured ales and like the combination of milk chocolate and peanut butter (think Reese), you'll like this porter.

Beer O'Clock rating: 🍺🍺 + .5

You can find Imperial City's porter in the LCBO. Pick up some while it lasts.

Cheers!