Tighthead Boxcar Porter

Brewed by Tighthead Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Mundelein, Illinois USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Brewhaha. Tops for me at the event. Pours a dark black with a thin beige head. Phenomenal nose. Complex sweet and roasted malts with coffee strong and delicious. Body is a little light for a porter. The coffee, burnt malts, and chocolate flavors are balanced and tasty. A great coffee porter.

Dark body with a small off white head. The aroma is pretty roasty, with some burnt notes. The flavor is similar, but a little too robust for me. Finish is very dry, and a little strong on the roast.

Poured to a sampler by brewmaster Bruce at Fat Duck in Forest Park, IL. as part of the 1st Annual Tale of Two Parks pub crawl. Displayed a black/brown color with a modest amount of frothy, brownish tan head foam, and some waves & spots of lacing. The aroma was roasty, maybe a touch of burnt, but smooth malt, with mainly cocoa notes, and some carmel & toffee highlights. Just a bit of sweetness was evident in the flavor, the body was medium, and hop bitterness was moderate but well balanced with the lightly creamy malt. Solid Porter.

Sampled from the tap at the Mundelin beer fest. Pours black with brown head that lasts throughout the beer. Aroma has some coffee with a good amount of roasted malts and just a hint of sweet dark grains. Flavor has a nice dry roasted malt note with some backing coffee with a bit of dark chocolate that mellows in the finish.

Pours a very dark brown with a tan head. Aroma is heavy with coffee and chocolatey. Has more carbonation than I was expecting, yet is still quite smooth. Taste is a bit on the mild side, but is good. Chocolate and coffee are most notable, but caramel is also apparent. Aftertaste is bitter with a strong coffee flavor. I enjoyed this.

Flight pour on tap at the brewpub (Mundelein, IL). Pours a rich roasty blackish hue, a good firm murkiness overall, ruby brown glowing edges show some life. A loose tannish head atop dies to a thick yet well lacing ring. Aromas are a rich roasty coffee, a touch sweetened, cocoa and some creamy sweet malts. Gentle caramel, biscuits, and toffee. Touches of roasty toast, gentle sweetness, gentle smokiness. Initial is medium bodied offering a firm roast and sweetness clash up front. Some good cocoa, toast, and caramel. Gentle touches of creamy sweetness, some touches of almost a cherrywood smoke are very faint. More coffee, sweetened a touch with vanilla. Really nice flavors here. Backend offers gentle body, medium hanging on, with firm cocoa and roast, toast, sweetness. Gentle caramel, some touches of chocolate. Lingering roasty toast on the backend, some pretzels, cocoa, and coffee. A firm body, quite drinkable. A very nice beer here.

This 75 character minmum limit is a pain the but when all I wanted to say this porter was very good. It has a good strong taste. I will keep coming back to Tighthead because of the Porter.

Draft at Tighthead. Pours a deep black-brown with a tan head. The nose is quite roasty and chocolatey, the hops are in the background for sure. Very malt forward and again, quite clean. On tasting, there is a balance between the malts and the bitterness with the roast really coming across pretty aggressively and pushing into chocolate. Dry and really fresh, just enough caramel to round it out. Pretty great porter, albeit quite big.

UPDATED: MAR 29, 2013 A nice porter but nothing special. Roasty and chocolatey but not overly so, decent sweetness.