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Food

Beer of the Month: Port Brewing Hot Rocks Lager

Mendocino Brewing Blackeye Ale: Beer of the Month
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Mendocino Brewing Blackeye Ale: Beer of the Month  (Kirk McKoy /Los Angeles Times)
The exotic combination of bananas, clove and pineapple makes an excellent foil for Cantonese or Thai, but this is a well-behaved beer that also gets along fine with chicken or macaroni and cheese. Click here for more, plus pricing.
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The exotic combination of bananas, clove and pineapple makes an excellent foil for Cantonese or Thai, but this is a well-behaved beer that also gets along fine with chicken or macaroni and cheese. Click here for more, plus pricing.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
The nose is a little malty with a pleasant, unusual note perhaps like sweet potatoes. On the palate it's quite sour — more sour than Goudenband, about like unsweetened yogurt. Click here for more, plus pricing.
3/30
The nose is a little malty with a pleasant, unusual note perhaps like sweet potatoes. On the palate it’s quite sour — more sour than Goudenband, about like unsweetened yogurt. Click here for more, plus pricing.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
The luscious nose is milk chocolate with a touch of molasses and dried fruit -- raisins, figs, apricots -- and it's malty-sweet in the mouth, though it finishes dry and slightly spicy. Click here for more.
4/30
The luscious nose is milk chocolate with a touch of molasses and dried fruit -- raisins, figs, apricots -- and it’s malty-sweet in the mouth, though it finishes dry and slightly spicy. Click here for more.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
It has a huge, dense head like a proper Pilsner, with a clean, floral nose. The malt makes it noticeably sweeter, though not as sweet as a bock. Click here for more.
5/30
It has a huge, dense head like a proper Pilsner, with a clean, floral nose. The malt makes it noticeably sweeter, though not as sweet as a bock. Click here for more.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
It's a big, mouth-filling golden ale with a fair amount of carbonation from bottle-conditioning. Click here for more.
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It’s a big, mouth-filling golden ale with a fair amount of carbonation from bottle-conditioning. Click here for more.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
It pours dark amber with an attractive nose of pine and oranges. Click here for more:
7/30
It pours dark amber with an attractive nose of pine and oranges. Click here for more:  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
It pours very red, almost the color of Port, with a medium tan head. The nose is malty, the palate flowing with chocolate and molasses. Click here for more:
8/30
It pours very red, almost the color of Port, with a medium tan head. The nose is malty, the palate flowing with chocolate and molasses. Click here for more:  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)
It pours reddish medium brown with a moderate tan head, and the nose is just like milk chocolate. Click here for more:
9/30
It pours reddish medium brown with a moderate tan head, and the nose is just like milk chocolate. Click here for more:  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
It gets its smooth character from malted wheat, though wheat flavor doesn't exactly leap out at you. Click here for more:
10/30
It gets its smooth character from malted wheat, though wheat flavor doesn’t exactly leap out at you. Click here for more:  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Shipyard Brewing Old Thumper
11/30
It pours amber with a pale yellowish head and a mild nose of fruits — apples and maybe bananas, rather than the usual West Coast citrus effect. Click here for more:  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Grand Teton Brewing Black Cauldron
12/30
Black Cauldron pours very dark, practically black, with a dark tan head. It has a slight citrus and dried-fruit nose, but this beer is really about roasted flavors (from two varieties of caramel malt and a little bit of rauchbier-style smoked malt). Click here for more:  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
Karl Strauss Brewing Pintail Pale Ale
13/30
Pintail is a seasonal brew from San Diego-based Karl Strauss, and for a long time it was available only at Karl Strauss brewpubs. Last year, Strauss started bottling it for sale in stores. Click here for more.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)
By Charles Perry
Special to the Los Angeles Times

In the Middle Ages, brewers sometimes stoked their brew kettles by throwing in rocks that had been heated red-hot. They were on to something, as Port shows in this intriguing dark lager, a collaboration with Bend Brewing in Bend, Ore.

What do the hot rocks do? They caramelize and even scorch some of the malt, giving a new layer of browned flavor — not just the caramel, chocolate or molasses notes (there is a tiny amount of the last, a huge amount of the first) but also a little of that burnt sugar taste we learned to love the first time we toasted a marshmallow.

This is a super-malty beer, pouring brown with a little glint of red under a really colossal head. Hops very much play second fiddle — the finish is long and sweet, with hops merely nipping sarcastically at your tongue once in a while.

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Obvious food pairings are barbecued pork with a Kansas City-style sauce, Korean barbecue (galbi) and flan (crème caramel).

Quick sip

Style: A big, forgiving mouthful that says life is sweet, even with its regrets.

Price: $4 per 22-ounce bottle

Where to find it: Wally’s Wine & Spirits in Los Angeles, (310) 475-0606, https://www.wallywine.com; Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, (949) 650-8463, https://www.hitimewine.net; Wade’s Wines in Westlake Village, (818) 597-9463, https://www.wadeswines.com; Beverages and More stores, https://www.bevmo.com; and Total Wine stores, https://www.totalwine.com.

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