Peanut Butter Raincloud

Peanut Butter Porters are the cousin of the now-ubiquitous pumpkin spice beers

Peanut Butter Porters are the cousin of the now-ubiquitous pumpkin spice beers – they're beers that should be fantastic (as chocolate and peanut butter are one of the all-time best flavor pairings), but they usually fall a little flat and come off as gimmicky. Well, here's one more.

The base beer matches the non-PB version, in that it is mahogany in color and opaque, but it lacks any semblance of head. The aroma is dominated by a low chocolate note and a medium nutty note, with low levels of stale, papery background aromas that may be the result of either oxidation or the nuts themselves (I've noticed this phenomenon with a number of nut-infused beers).

The flavor...well, it's a porter with peanuts in it. There's the usual coffee and chocolate notes, and a not-too-subtle nutty note on top of it. The flavors don't really mesh. It's like the difference between dark chocolate ice cream with a ribbon of peanut butter running through it and a piece of dark chocolate with crushed peanuts just laying on top of it: both have basically the same flavor, but one feels more "complete" – this is the latter.

When you add in the fact the nut flavor leaves at least the impression of an oily finish, you have a beer that will appeal only to a very narrow segment. Most would be better off pairing the standard robust porter with actual food, rather than giving this a shot. Not a bad beer, but nothing special.