Cigar City José Martí American Porter

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

12oz bottle pours out very dark with mahogany/chocolate edges and loose mocha head. The aroma just after the pour invades everything within a couple of feet with full rich dark fruity esters. A few minutes later a closer inspection reveals the same thicket of dark fruity esters as well as dark chocolate, burnt malts dark roasted malts, dark roasted coffee, chicory and then a thin layer of chocolate brownie. The taste is bold and rich with a brief pulse of sweet malts and sweet dark fruity esters and then rolling into dark roasted malts, dark roasted coffee, burnt malts and a growing dark chocolate note. By midway and to the finish a pleasing note of chicory comes to the surface and carries into the after taste with the other notes. Yummy full flavored brew.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Nice black beer with no head but I smell hops. Well it's got a good mouthfeel and good news. It's not very bitter but bitter enough I won't buy it again. I will say this is as close to a IPA as what I can stand.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

A deep black beer with a moderate sized foamy textured white head rising above. It has great hang time and settles into a thick ringlet with splotches of film. Bitter chocolate-coffeeand a slight citric prsence of a roasty base is the profile in smell and taste. Moderate bodied. A very good Porter.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Robust porter hitting the right blend of sweetness, roast, chocolate and moderate hop flavors. Often I overlook a well made porter and this was able to remind me how great this style can be.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

What a great porter! It's a deep, dark brown in the glass, with a thin and lasting, densely foamed tan head. Aromas of chocolate and coffee and roasted malts, similarly flavored, and with a sweet and clinging mouthfeel. I didn't notice the aggressively hopped hoppiness of the description, but really thought it rather mildly hopped. Reminds me of a sweet stout, and very excellent.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

agressively hopped, but not overly so. compliments rather than drowns out the dry roasted malts. this is a good beer, falling just short of the elites in class.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This is more like a black IPA, or as they say a "robustly hopped" porter. Either way, seems like some sort of hybrid where the balance is skewed towards the citrusy/grapefruit flavors. The start is mainly hops, with some chocolate in the middle. The end is bitter hops, with some more chocolate on the finish. On the dry side like most of the Cigar City beers I've sampled. At first wasn't too sure if I liked the balance, but is growing on me during my 2nd sample. Going to save a few to share with my camping/beer buddy from Tampa...but may update this in the near future.