Port Brewing 3rd Anniversary Ale

Port Brewing, Ahh.... there is a special place in my heart for this brewery in San Marcos California. Talk about having to fill big shoes! In 2006 Pizza Port formed Port Brewing Co. LLC and took over the old Stone Brewing facility. Having been to this facility many times I have fond memories of attending past Stone brewery functions. Stone's arrogance and swagger set a standard for craft brewers all over California and the US. Yellow fizzy beer is for wussies! Thank god Port doesn't make yellow fuzzy beer for wussies!

I could go into great detail about this excellent brewery but I'll leave that for another time. Today I am reviewing their 3rd Anniversary Ale.

Hmmmm..... a southern California brewery that had the cojones to take over the Stone Brewing facility. What type of beer do you think they'd make? A DIPA of course!

At first pour you notice the nice carmel color. The aroma is very hoppy and citrusy. The bouquet brings out hints of grapefruit and pine. Obviously this is an aggressive beer but the sweet malt provides a nice flavor before the hops come back on the aftertaste for an aggressive finish.

At some point however, the west coast breweries have to do something different. Although this is an excellent beer it's extremely tough to stand out when so many other breweries are doing something similar.

I rate this beer 7/10 Aroma, 8/10 taste, 7.5/10 complexity and 7.5/10 balance. Overall 7.5

One note on this beer. I will have to do another review next year. This beer will mellow out and become more balanced. I always recommend holding on to these anniversary beers for a year and drinking them on the next anniversary. Try this and I guarantee you'll thank me.