SanTan Brewing Company - Sex Panther

For the Eighth Beer of Christmas, we went with a beer that promises to work 60 percent of the time every time.

SanTan Brewing Company
Sex Panther

Even though this is named for the famed cologne from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, I'm fairly certain the beer does not contain actual bits of panther. However, it does have colonial rosewood cocoa and lots of chocolate malt that account for the double chocolate in the name.

A deep chocolate brown with mahogany highlights around the edge, a nice head for small tan bubbles forms on top sticks around for most of the drink. Near the end, it thins out to wispy patterns across the top of the glass.

Roasted malts make up the most prevalent aroma coming from the glass. Underlying scents include toasted walnuts and some sweet caramel. I don't smell as much in the way of cocoa or chocolate. Especially considering the double treatment this brew received.

However, the taste does have a healthy dose of bittersweet chocolate. The bitter roasted malt aftertaste similar to other porters, but overall the flavor reminds me a little more of a brown ale with porter tendencies.  Maybe a medium bodied winter warmer with a lower alcohol ester factor and no spices.

While it doesn't scream "traditional porter," it's definitely a drinkable brew. I like the roasted aftertaste. And I like the name as well as the can design. SanTan claims to brew southwestern style ales. What I did note about this beer is that for a porter, it seems very light. So maybe it is a porter, just a southwest porter that's very light and drinkable in hotter weather.

Stats
Brewer: SanTan Brewing Co.
Location: Chandler, Arizona
Website: http://www.santanbrewing.com
Style: American Porter
Alcohol Content: 6.90% ABV
Interesting Note: Like a number of other breweries, including Dogfish Head (one of my favorites,) SanTan also operates a brewpub. At the brewpub they have a Randall the Enamel Animal - a hop inducer invented by none other than Dogfish Head. However, rather than just dry hopping beers, they use the Randall to impart mango flavoring to their Sunspot Golden Ale and peanut butter flavor to the double chocolate Sex Panther. Alright, this decides it. Either I have to buy a Randall for myself or I'm going to have to make a trip to Chandler, AZ, to try the creations at SanTan.