Highland Black Mocha Stout

Brewed by Highland Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Dark brown. Nice nose - chocolate, coffee, lots of happy malts. Roasty with dark fruits on the palate. Sweet finish, just enough appetizing dryness. Nice stout.

Dark brown body with short, but frothy tan head. Plesant aroma of roasted malts, coffee and sweet chocolate. Flavor is full of roast and coffee with a sweet, toffee-like backbone. Notes of chocolate and licorice. Nice, bitter, clean and dry finish. Smooth texture, medium body. Well put together, enjoyable.

Bottle from Tom and Larry. Black in color with a compact tan head that fades slowly. Nice lacing. Aroma is rich with coffee, some chocolate and lightest hint of smoke. Full bodied with pleasant carbonation. Full malty flavors of chocolate, coffee, modest roasted grain. Tasty.

From notes 2/11/06: Pours an opaque coffee blackness. Thin wispy tan head forms and recedes to a film. Loose spacious lace slides down the glass. Aromas of robust black coffee and chocolate shavings. A bit of overly kilned malts; some char and smoke linger. Ashy flavors of roasted malts. Charred. Burnt coffee. Cocoa dusts the java flair. Lingering mildly sour lactose feel. Hops provide ample bitterness towards the end. Solid mouthfeel. Drinkable for the javahead.

Very dark pour. The head is nice and thick and stays around to chat for awhile. Aroma is definitely tinged with hints of cocoa. Wonderful slight chocolate taste coming through at the end. Thick mouthfeel, finishes great. This is one of my favorite beers!

The 12 oz. brown bottle was adorned with the typical Highland Brewing Company motif with a Scottish theme. The pour appeared reddish brown and clear out of the bottle, but in the glass it was very dark brown and nearly opaque. The head was khaki in color and one finger thick. The aroma was that of a dark roasted espresso, with a smattering of chocolate. The taste was drier than I was expecting, as the dark coffee and roasted grain flavors supplanted any residual sweetness. Not much chocolate coming through in the taste to justify the mocha in the name. But despite that, this was a very delicious stout with a pleasing palette. A little hint of tobacco juice in the finish was followed by a brief hop flourish. Prickly and granular mouthfeel stopped just short of being chewy. This turned out to be a solid stout all around the board, so I am glad I bought the sixpack instead of a single bomber.

Bottle. Appearance was a medium sized tan head that mostly diminished, poor lacing, no visible carbonation, opaque, and a dark brown hue. Malty, chocolate, coffee, and roasty nose. Ditto for the flavor. Tingly mouthfeel.

Bomber, courtesy JRob_21’s fine trading skills. Man, this is good beer. Just about opaque unless you hold it right under a light, with some fairly thick tight-bubble head and temporary lace. Huge sweet chocolate nose with hints even of raspberry poking through. Rich, deep fragrance. The body’s full but not quite creamy, and it ends up not being too filling. Carbed just enough to be refreshing (by stout standards). Coffee and chocolate on the attack, mid-palate, and finish, with just a whiff or sour and bitter as it goes down. Fantastic stuff.