Santa’s Little Helper

Port Brewing Co.
San Marcos, CA

Available: CA, AZ, CO, WA, IL, PA, MA

First created at the Pizza Port in Solana Beach in 1997, and brewed annually ever since.

ABV: 10.5
ABW: 8.4
Color: n/a
Bitterness: n/a
Original gravity: 1092

Delicious, rich strong ale, perhaps a bit too fruity to qualify as a stout. That said, it is delicious. Handsome cappuccino-colored head and spicy nose satisfy the senses. Black as Xmas night, the dark roasted malt is balanced with well-selected hops. A superb digestive and restorative: I recommend it after the big meal, rather than with it.
- Charles Finkel

What an impressive pour, the color is deeper than black, the burnt brown head moussy and tenacious. The slightest evocation of hops gives way to a malted milk, licorice, and espresso nose. Another swirl of the snifter unleashes vanilla and bittersweet chocolate. The mouthfeel is velvety smooth, the flavor is chicory-infused full roast coffee, spiky anise, and dark cocoa. The charred black currants in my dessert of maple-oatmeal cookies favors this impy nicely. The finish is relatively gentle for a beer of this fortitude. This is one well-built brew.
- K. Florian Klemp

Charles Finkel
Founder of Merchant du Vin and the Pike Brewing Co., Charles Finkel is a pioneer in the marketing of craft beers in America.

K. Florian Klemp
K. Florian Klemp is an award-winning homebrewer and general hobbyist who thinks there is no more sublime marriage than that of art and science.

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