Highland Black Mocha Stout

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

Nice stout. Good bitter edge with a roasted, chocolate/coffee malt flavor. The beer pours deep and dark with a light tan head. The aroma is composed of roasted malt sugars, cocoa and espresso. The flavor is similar, but neither flavor nor aroma punch hard enough to merit a higher score. There’s a bit of fruit in the malt flavors that’s itching to get out. A touch of honey also comes through on the palate. The mouthfeel is a bit thinner than I like, but I might be a bit too used to impy stouts at this point. The aftertaste lingers fairly well.

Bottle: Deep brown pour with a khaki head. The aroma has evident roast- black malt, sweeter note of dark toffee, and caramel flavored coffee. Nice fluffy and creamy feel. The flavor has nice malt character with dark crystal, hearty nutty notes, fresh coffee giving smooth roast and a touch of husk. Long flavors and full fresh roasted character. Nice stuff.

This one was an extra for a trade that I unfortunately didn’t keep good enough track of. I know I’ve been sitting on it for a while, not sure why that is as this is a favorite style of mine, but here we go. Pour is a near opaque black with hints of brown when held up to light. Head starts off well enough but quickly dies down. The upside there is some good lacing on the glass that brings this one above average. The smell worries me quite a bit. I get a lot of coffee but it brings to mind some of my lesser favorite in the style such as Atwater Block’s Vanilla Java porter. The coffee smell is overpowering and doesn’t have that nice coffee bean smell I like (likely attributed to roasted malt) but straight, strong coffee. It overpowers everything. I can’t punish for lack of character, but it is a bit one dimensional, and not entirely one that has me dying to taste it. Unfortunately, taste follows suit as this one is a bit one dimensional on the coffee side. It is so overpowering that I can’t discern much else in the way of character. Mouth is good, no real complaint here. I prefer my stouts to be thick and near flat, this is a bit more toward the middle of the thickness scale and rather bubbly, but due to the overpowering nature of the coffee, this actually makes it more drinkable. Overall an average brew that I won’t likely revisit.

Acquired via in person trade at GTMW with zizzybalubba. Thanks! Pour is pretty dark with a vanilla colored head. Somewhat burnt aroma of nut, burnt popcorn, vanilla, and mild chocolate. Flavors of coffee roast, vanilla, peated smoke. Fairly complex flavors. A decent beer, these days it takes quite a bit from a beer to wow me. This comes up a bit short, but the effort is commendable.

Pours an opaque black color with a brown head. Aroma is chocolate, caramel, crystal malt, bitter chocolate, cocoa, and earthy spice . Flavor is cocoa, caramel, roast, toffee, some coffee, and a bitter chocolate finish.

Pours a deep brown, almost black color with a nice rocky tan head. Plenty of raw chocolate and coffee in the aroma, nicely pungent! Flavor is really good, very bitter with espresso and dark chocolate all over the place, just a little bit of nuttiness, some raisin and some earthy hops. Tasty stuff indeed!

Stratford tasting @ Cletus house. Pours a black body with an off white head. Roast y chewy chocolate, malty a bit dry in the finish. Nice.

12oz bottle from total wine in greenville. pours a very dark brown with a thin, tan head and a solid ring of lace. aroma is mild but very nice with notes of dark chocolate, coffee, light roasted malts with a hint of smoke and the slightest note of dark fruit. flavor is very good as well with sweet dark chocolate, burnt coffee, peat, and roasted nuts with a solid, bitter, roasted coffee finish. palate is a bit thin for my liking and has a distracting metallic tinge but is smooth and drinkable. overall, a solid stout.