The weather here in Georgia has been crazy the past few weeks, and as a result, I have been losing my beer drinking mind. The calendar says its winter, so anytime I look at it I find myself thinking about yummy stouts and porters. Yet when I go outside, the sun is shining and its in the mid 60's, so my mind wanders to the land of IPAs, pilsners, and even the occasional hefeweizen. The past few days have been particularly maddening, so in order to keep some level of sanity, I chose to go with what the calendar said. From what I could tell it read February. That meant I would be well within my rights to plant my face smack in the middle of a porter, and as luck would have it, there just happened to be a Cocoa Porter from Tommyknocker Brewery sitting in my fridge.

Just sitting in the glass, the Cocoa Porter seems to have a simple dark brown coloration. It is not until held up to a light source that you can see that there is an interesting deep ruby red hue to it. Even on an aggressive pour, no head worth mentioning is achieved, and thus not much lacing should be expected. Getting ones nose in the glass proves the Cocoa Porter to be true to its name, but almost to the point of one dimensional. The dominating aroma is without a doubt cocoa powder. One really has to dig to find anything beyond that, and even then only some dark chocolate notes can be found.

Just as in the nose, the taste is pretty one sided as well. I'm not saying that its a bad thing, but if you are expecting a complex masterpiece, you might be slightly disappointed. The cocoa powder is very upfront, and pushes most everything else completely out of the way from start to finish. Only after some diligent searching is one able to detect some basic malt flavors, and the occasional hints of vanilla and honey. A very, very slight hops tingle on the tongue keeps things from getting completely out of sweetness control, and no real aftertaste lingers.

To me, the Cocoa Porter is one of those beers that I could drink all night long, not complain once about it, and then two days later have a hard time recalling what it was. I'm not saying it's a horrible beer, because its not. It is highly drinkable, and even though its one sided, has good flavor. At the same time, I'm not saying its a great beer, because again, its not. I would put it in that category of a great bridge beer for beginners, and a decent session beer for veterans. There's nothing wrong with beers like that. We need them in our world. So while this one isn't the best of the best, it still fits the bill for a enjoyable seasonal.