Stoutmaker.beer

Today’s beer is a “semi” local beer, from Kenosha Wisconsin,, Highland Porter from Rustic Road Brewing. Quick stats… 32 IBU and 8.7% ABV

I’m at The Depot in Green Bay, Wi. A popular craftbeer/food place downtown.
They do have several taps of the local craft beers with a decent variety.

Highland Porter came in a standard 12oz can. Billed as being infused with vanilla bean and dark roast coffee. Sounds like a modern notion of a Porter.

Watching them take the can out of the same fridge as the Macro beers, I had a pre game beer to let this one warm up a little.

When it was time I poured the can into a regular pub style straight sided heavy glass mug.
Big foamy tan head. Tan like Roasted Barley tan. I think I’ll be coming back to that point after I taste this.

Deep dark brown, but definitely not black. Ruby edges and looking quite clear. No signs of carbonation, and already that big thick head had died off to nothing. It is completely gone.

But wow. there is a whole nose of chocolate and caramel,, a bit of vanilla,, but not as much as the can description would indicate Nothing much for roast here but that layer of chocolate is pretty intense.

In the taste you get basically what was in the nose. Chocolate, caramel, a bit of vanilla, and now there is roast popping out a little, with an earthy hop keeping it together.

But yea,, what I suspected might happen with the Roast Barley is now happening.

They make a point to mention they use a specific ” Premium East View Dark Roast Coffee” and angle that to be a focal point.
But then use Roasted Barley which main attribute is coffee flavor.
So if you wanted to showcase a certain flavor from a specific ingredient, why use another ingredient that is going to eclipse and overshadow what you wanted to stand out?

But either way,, the biggest flavor is the chocolate, and the coffee notes are very much far in the back ground

The body of this beer seems quite a bit heavy for a Porter, but that is fine with me, but it is really getting close to being gloopy and sweet. Not quite there though.
I think its a combination of low carbonation and low bitterness.
32 IBU is not so much high, but just enough to keep this from being a sweet bomb. And keeps that 9% from ever being noticable.

Sounds like tough criticism, but I see where they were trying to go, and they just missed their marks I think.
It is a good beer, that stays this side of anything stand outish. A bit heavy for a Porter in general, and hard to have more than one regardless of the ABV.

All in all a 3/5 is where it is at for me. However, this may be one to age a year and come back to.