In the last few months, southern Illinois has seen an influx of California beers from my home town of San Diego. You can now get brews from Green Flash and Port Brewing Company, two of San Diego's finest breweries, and two of the oldest.
I haven't been more proud or more excited.
Port Brewing Company is the bottling arm of Pizza Port, one of San Diego's oldest microbreweries. Opened in 1992 on a strip of highway 101 about a quarter mile from the beach, Pizza Port is regularly one of San Diego's most award winning breweries. (Two years ago I took a trip to Pizza Port and Port Brewing Company, and you can read about that microbrew vacation here.) It predates Stone Brewing Company, although the bottling arm is now located in Stone's old digs, as Stone has since moved into the World Bistro and Gardens.
Port's Brewing's year-round beers are now available in Carbondale, and today I'm reviewing the Shark Attack, a double red ale.
This is truly a west coast style beer, with little resemblance to its former Irish red self. Whereas an Irish red ale would be a mild malty number with little hop character and no esters, this American double red has all of those things in spades. Caramel malts absolutely leap out of the bottle along with estery plum and prune notes. It pours a deep mahogany red with low carbonation and head retention, and a fantastic amount of sediment, even from a 22 oz bottle poured off the top.
I'm not sure all of that sediment was yeast; I think some of it was bits of hop, which would not be a surprise considering the intense bitterness and hoppiness of this beer. There is a grassy, earthy quality to the hop flavor, which is a little surprising considering the use of Cascade and Centennial, which do not tend to be on the earthy side, nor usually used as a bittering hop. They managed to squeeze out all the acidity they could, though, and I think that the high bitterness, combined with the caramel malts served to downplay any fruitiness that may have emerged, emphasizing the intensity of the alpha acid instead. It is a fairly astringent beer, especially the more sips you have, although it has a nice caramel, toffee, raisin and prune flavor overall.
This is not a beer to slam, that's for sure. It's 9.5% ABV, although you wouldn't taste it. In spite of the fact that this is clearly a big beer, there's a kind of dryness that gives way at the end of the sip. It doesn't coat the whole tongue; it's not a beer in which the caramel malts are heavy and stick with you. In this sense it is like a throw back to a traditional Irish red: it's a big beer that in the end wants to be light and drinkable. Does it succeed? You be the judge.
I gave it 35/50 points on the BJCP scale, a very good beer.
Port Brewing beers are available at Kindling Spirits, Food and Florals, Westroads Liquors and Pinch Penny.
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