On my trip to San Diego last weekend, my friends and I also stopped by Karl Strauss and tried several of their beers. While I liked a good majority of them and have tried many before, including this one, I was greatly pleased that they allowed this one to be growler filled. Since the first time I tried it long ago, I never really got a chance to do a review and at the time I did not think of doing reviews on the go like I am doing now. So with the opportunity to bring this one home and take my time to review it, here it is! Now, I had a couple of peanut butter cup beers before like the Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout, the Terrapin Liquid Bless and even Mother Earth Sin Tax. This one on the other hand, though English and light, takes advantage of the cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. A combo that fares greatly with many beers. So without further a do, here is the Peanut Butter Cup Porter, Cheers!

Aromas:
Rich Peanut butter, Nutter Butter Cookies, oatmeal, banana hints, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, hint of dark fruit raisins, cocoa crispies, milk sugars, mild cherries, vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, dark cherries, cinnamon, mocha, vanilla, toffee, coconut and butterscotch.

Flavors:
Cocoa Crispies cereal, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, bakers chocolate, hazelnut, pecan pie hints, peanut butter chocolate Reece’s pieces, milk sugar, vanilla, caramel, oatmeal, Nutter Butter cookies, cinnamon hints, brown sugar, dark fruit raisins and mild cherries, roasted coffee notes, peanut shell bitterness, rye bread,mocha, toffee, toasted coconut, earthy notes and butterscotch hints.

Aftertaste:
chocolate peanut butter, dark chocolate, mocha hints, roasted coffee, vanilla, caramel, toasted coconut, ending with earthy notes dryness. No alcohol in the taste, easy to drink, creamy and buttery mouthfeel and medium to light body.

Overall:
Definitely exceeding my expectations a bit. Is this the better Peanut Butter Cup beer? Well, the addition of the cocoa nibs and vanilla beans can be sensed in the flavors and definitely does take the beer to the next level. I really can say I enjoyed this one a lot for what it is. There aren’t many peanut butter beers out there and this is a damn well represented one. All I hope is that one day they put this in bottle. Otherwise, if you are lucky, you can get this at the brewery.

Anime Corner:
Yui Takamura from Muv Luv Alternative/Total Eclipse was used for this pairing since her colors pair with the flavors of chocolate and peanut butter I have paired her with Liquid Bliss once so I wanted to bring her back to show a more chocolate perspective. While the strength is not on the beer per se, it surely is in the flavor. Surely that is explosive!