Highland Brewing Company: Thunderstruck Coffee Porter
Brewery: Highland Brewing Company (USA)
Beer: Thunderstruck Coffee Porter, 5.8% ABV, 26 IBU, 355ml bottle
Listed Ingredients: Pale Malt, Carmel 60, Chocolate Malts, Midnight Wheat; Chinook, Hallertau Mittlefrue, and German Select Hops; Yeast, Water, and Organic Coffee from Dynamite Roasting Co.
Style: Coffee Porter
Rating: 3/5
Vegan Friendly
Thunderstruck Coffee Porter
Appearance
Black, pours a modest but creamy head.
Aroma
Roasted coffee beans, hint of chocolate; not overpowering.
Taste
Coffee is evident, but it’s fairly mild. There’s not an awful lot of character or body to this beer. It’s satisfying though, and the hint of coffee (less than you might expect from the aroma) does give it a bit of something extra — I suspect that otherwise this might be a rather bland porter.
Overall
I’m sampling through the beers of Highland Brewing Company, a brewery which I had not heard of before I came to North Carolina. They’re located in Asheville, and their beers are readily available in Chapel Hill. The branding is a bit silly, with a bearded guy armed with a back pipe and a pint in the label. So, they’re trying to be Scottish, and I guess that their beers are somewhat influenced by Scottish brewing traditions, but they’re no match really. Still, their range of products looks nice, and they do make some decent, affordable beers.
One strange thing about bottled beers in the US: very often they do not indicate the ABV — this is true of the Thunderstruck as well. I assumed that this just means that the beer is some standard ABV, like 5.0% or something, but no; from the brewery’s website I learned that the Thunderstruck is 5.8% ABV. Rather peculiar!
TTahko,
Our Scottish brand comes from the desire to honor the Scots-Irish who settled in Asheville and surrounding areas.
Hope you enjoyed the beers and visit the brewery sometime.
Thanks for the clarification Leah! I’ve discovered that an interest in the (European and other) ancestors and settlers is strong in the US. I do appreciate that, but it may look a bit peculiar to those of us from the Old World! Anyway, so far I’d say that Highland is my favourite brewery in the area (out of the four or five locals I’ve sampled), and I may very well come visit the brewery at some point — I’m planning to come to Asheville eventually in any case. I’ve reviewed the Oatmeal Porter as well, I’ll publish the review soon…