Highland Black Mocha Stout

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!

Ooooh, I know I’m in for a ride, already. I’ve poured into the glass and the beer fills it with an impenetrable ebon, capped with lush, rocky cocoa tan froth. And the aroma, wafting out from the start is intoxicating and right on the money. Let’s go in for a stronger sniff... Ahhh!!! Rich, deep coffe and chocolate, lightly roasty, toasty, a big of of bittersweet beans, but sweetened up some, very delicious...cocoa is an imprtant element here... Taste: simply a wonderful thing going on in the mouth. All those flavors mentioned in the nose combine beautifully for a dark, delectable symphony on the palate. Rich and sweet, chocolatey, but still enough bitter to keep the thing in check. Immaculate integration, exquisite balance, almost flawless. I could drink this forever...damnably good. It feels great to meet once in a while such a fantastic creation as this, and know that stupendous stouts aren’t just conceived once in a while,from the usual suspects, but are cropping up all over the place, created by a host of talented brewers across the U.S.A!

I admit to being a wee prejudiced in favor of stouts and porters, which is why I tend to rate them high if they’re good. However, this one does deserve kudos. Color is a deep sable, almost black, and opaque. Aroma is fairly strong, smoky, with rich roast coffee overtone. Flavor is very smooth, tasting rather like roast coffee with hints of chocolate and just a whisper of hops. I heartily recommend this one to all porter and stout fans.

Wonderful stuff. Tasted side by side with The Abyss (deschutes)... and I liked both equally. Chocolate, toffee, nice touch of hops, beautiful deep dark color... great beer.

Perfectly ebon with a large foamy cap of deep yellowed brown spongeyness. Keeps a huge skim/capping present for great length and lacing is spread out in lots of spots and a few stringy thingies. Good aroma of soft cocoa covered bread, brown sugar, and mocha coffee ice cream with a bit of dry nuttyness on top. Flavors are a bit nicer and quite fufilling in tone and richness. Good amounts of chocolate malt, some nice evenly set drying to it as it soothes into a semi creamy coffeeness and roastability. Tiny burnt notes flick about along with some dry husks and cocoa. A very easy going character of evenness and smoothness. Good balance of chocolatey sweetness mixed with coffee dryness and slight bitterings of burntness. Feel is soft and creamy with a nice delicate dryness throughout. Body dances well in the medium areas, kinda gets more tang as it warms with a bit of oatyness. Very soothing and nearly silky in some ways. This one grew on me, at first it didn’t seem like it was gonna knock my socks off but as it went along it became a very inticingly fun brew to drink. I think the overall subtle tones in flavor and body really worked well together and made for a very approachable drinker of a stout!