Highland Thunderstruck Coffee Porter

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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12 ounce bottle - $1.69 at Charlie’s Beer and Wine in Marietta, Georgia.

Appearance: Pours what appears to be an essentially black body with a full, thick finger of medium-tan-hued foam.

Smell: Roasty, coffee-accented nose with a touch of bitter chocolate and increasingly fainter, lighter notes of caramel, pale malts, spicy hops, and fruit.

Taste: Roasty coffee and bitterish chocolate mingled with the base pale malts. Some thin traces of caramel, maybe even a fat drop of molasses in there as well. Very low fruitiness. Modestly spicy hops aided a bit by the roast, the carbonation, and wheat. Roasty finish with some of that dark chocolate lingering into the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation, though there’s an added skosh of crispness on the tail end of the swallow.

Overall: A solid, enjoyable coffee-infused porter.

Bottle from Bruisin Ales. Pours black with a thin khaki head that doesn’t leave any lacing. Nice coffee aroma. They did a good job with the roasting. The coffee complements the porter base nicely. Clean finish. Very tasty. I wish I had another bottle of this.

12 oz. bottle. The aroma is coffee, bitter chocolate, and black bread. The flavor is sweet, malty, and mildly bitter. The palate is medium, chalky, and smooth. Overall, this is a light, well balanced, and flavorful beer.

Originally reviewed: 12/30/11. One of my more anticipated new NC beers to try, so I was excited to see this one on tap at City Bev in town. A huge rocky tan head capped this mother off. The nose was strong with roasted coffee and chocolate powder. I really am digging the freshly ground aroma. Nice strong coffee presence. The body is moderate-to-full, yet still drinkable. The alcohol level must be low, because this one is disappearing quickly. Big coffee notes, chocolate, slight nutty presence melded within. Dang. This one delivered. My new favorite Highland offering. Now to seek out some bottles...

Pours nearly black, nearly opaque. Nice chocolatey malt. Pretty solid porter, although the name makes it sound like a bigger deal than it really is.

Brown pour with creamy tan head and lace. Aroma s large espresso, a hinto chocolate. Flavor is coffee, chocolate, and a malty bitter. Medium bodied with good carbonation. nice

bottle shared @ rbwg ’12. black with a cream head. nose is coffee, roasted malts, and chocolate. smooth on the palate, heavy coffee, rich chocolate, and more coffee.

Bottle from Sam’s, Durham. Listen closely and you can hear Brian Johnson. Was pleased by how solid this one was, and that’s more or less what I expected from Highland - they usually do the chocolate malt and coffee interface pretty well. This one could have been more full bodied, I suppose, but it had a bracing, lively roasted quality to it that recalled fresh Bells Java.

(22oz bottle) Pours a dark brown body with a small beige head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee, and some dark chocolate. Flavor of coffee, roasted malt, burn bread crust, and chocolate.

On tap at the Taco Mac in Peachtree City. A strong peat malt in a robust porter. Tasted similar to a Guinness, but not quite as smooth.