Another old review from my Instagram, back when Tiny Rebel released their StayPut (NHS charity variant of their beloved StayPuft Marshmallow Porter series). I was fortunate enough to get both the Mint Chocolate Chip as well as the Raspberry Ripple despite the chaos and constant crashes on the website.
The first one to be sampled was the Mint Chocolate Chip and this was my honest feedback on it as I originally wrote it back in April of 2020.
I'm underwhelmed and disappointed when it comes to the actual described flavouring of mint chocolate chip... It started off without any real minty smell to it, just the standard "Marshmallow porter" smells. I've never had any type of mint chocolate beer before so I guess maybe that was my expectation being incorrectly set that this would reek of Colgate or something (mild sarcasm)**. I thought maybe this would be the type where it takes you by surprise and punches you in the mouth with the flavour when you least expect it - like a ninja in the night. While it had overall decent flavours, I did struggle to taste much (if any at all) mint. The chocolate taste got stronger the more I carried on drinking it, but it was more a milk chocolate taste than a mint chocolate taste (which was good in its own right). I knew it didn't mention peanut butter or anything nutty, but I could taste hints of nuttiness which I think was likely the biscuit (? - either way it was a nice, subtle note). It wasn't massively sweet or sickly like a lot of comments on the TR Stay Puft usually tend to state. It was very smooth and relatively creamy (without being syrupy or overly artificial tasting). Maybe it was just that 1 can and the others will taste slightly differently? (especially if I leave them to sit a bit longer while I work my way through the rest of my stockpile).***
I want to follow this all up by saying that I still think it's a good porter. My only qualm really was that it wasn't the minty flavour it stated on the tin which is what really piqued my interest in the first place. I'm looking forward to trying the Raspberry Ripple (but it's a school night and one cheeky one was enough for me tonight). Interested to see how others get on with this one...
---
**I have since had minty beer and can confirm that this was just exceptionally underwhelming.
*** It wasn't just the one can. They were all like that and I decided instead to start baking with them instead (and made some bitchin' mint chocolate stout brownies with it).