Diamond Bear Brewing Company's Paradise Porter

Pours an opaque blackish brown. Nice tan head to it. Smells great, but a bit more like a stout than a porter at first, but it does have a few tannins in there if you really try.

Still more of a stout in the taste, and feels a bit like a milk stout. Only in the aftertaste does it taste like a porter. Until then, it seems like a standard stout. A good one, but not really a porter. More heavily carbonated than I like porters to be, too.

Maybe it's because I've had this one sitting around for a while, but it seems just a bit off style.

Diamond Bear Brewing Company's Paradise Porter

Alright, here goes with the fourth beer in what is probably the most disappointing BOTM club shipment since the one with three wits in it. It's a porter, so I'm hoping for the best. I don't get the baby blue and yellow label though. It's a porter, not bottled water. Well, I hope not, anyway.

Huh. Pours well. Opague and black with brown highlights, but not as opaque as a stout. Great tan to brown cascading head. That's a surprise. Decent carbonation that you can see up to about 1/4 inch into the glass.

Roasted and slightly sweet malt. I know it has no lactose in it, but it smells like that kind of sweetness.

Same roasted grain taste and a decent bitter pop. It's indistinct, with any particular characteristics drowned out by the roasted flavor. It still has that hint of sweetness too, and it still seems a bit like a milk stout.

Surprisingly good beer. I'll keep the other two of these, and give the six remaining beers from this run to someone else.

Diamond Bear Brewing Company's Presidential IPA

My first beer from Arkansas, and I'm guessing that it has something to do with Clinton since it's "presidential" and all. The American flag makes me want to send it back. I'm surprised there's not an eagle shedding a tear on there somewhere.

I'd rather hang up the flag and be done with it.

Pours a decent, coppery amber even if it does have a hollow neon clarity to it. Pretty good tan head that thins but never goes away.

Smells a bit musty. That's the first thought that came to mind. As the head dies the malt comes out and it smells like bread under a crisp floral smell.

Good pop to it. It's muddled a bit by what seems to be adjuncts, and for some reason it feels hugely carbonated and so it's a bit sharp in the feel. The bitterness is crisp though, and lingers well in the aftertaste. It mellows a bit and the taste clears up as it warms, and is much better after the carbonation dies down.

Pretty good beer from a no-name brewery. Too carbonated, but otherwise no real complaints.