Holgate Brewhouse (est 1999) brews a chocolate porter called Temptress. To quote Leslie Phillips, “Ding dong!”

This beer comes in a bright and lively bottle with a stained-glass looking label surrounded by their bull motif. It is certainly a departure from their normal labels.

Smelling this beer gets the initial strong hit of dark chocolate, with a smaller subtle hint of malt and vanilla. You mostly get the chocolate wafting up the glass, without being overly sweet, it blends with the slight bitterness of the hops and the vanilla.

Drinking the beer, the tartness of the dark chocolate comes through initially, with a slight bitterness. This porter does not have a lot of body, it is dominated by the chocolate and bitterness, and would benefit from some smoother body, but this is not a problem. When the beer clears, you get a sting of coffee with the alcohol taste and the everything moves away to a nicely warming bitter aftertaste. Not really smooth, but excellent grouping of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, bitter hops and some malt.

Summary. A great bitter porter with massive overtones of dark chocolate to make a very warming winter drink.