Highwater Porter
Skagit River Brewery

 

Easy drinker.

 

 

 

 

Handsome dark mahogany brown with a nice swirling foam in the tall glass. Some lacing, plenty of bubbles, and a tangy carbonation in the mouth. Aromatic roasted grain in the nose.

Light body. Warm dark caramel taste with a scratchy bier edge. This has such an appealing malty roasted flavor. A hint of red wine and cocoa. it does get rather biter at the finish, but its just a burn in the background.

Totally drinkable. This is not a bad Porter and it shows what a pleasant brew the Skagit boys can make when they lay off the bitter hop medicine. From the 22 oz bottle purchased at the brewery restaurant in Mount Vernon.

 

 

 

received as an extra, poured into a pint glass.

a - 5% abv, i was expecting something light. this is dark. solid head, light tan in color

s - hops, chocolate, malts (roasted)

t - just as the nose leads on, hoppy bitterness. roasted malts. not much chocolate.

m - great mouthfeel. good balance between thickness and carbonation.

o - I was expecting something much weaker and was pleasantly surprised.

At first sip I involuntarily uttered the word, "nice." It's not "WOW", but it's nice.

I took home a half growler from the brewery. I assume it's Highwater and not some other porter though I didn't specifically check the tap handle. The beer is deep ember-glow red with ample carbonation, an eclipsed head, and an agreeably placid mouthfeel. Brown malt sweetness dominates until offset by a bracing roasty edge in the finish. Brown sugar aroma perfumes the air above the glass. Not overly roasted but... nice.

pours a dark brown with a ruby tint when held to the light, above average carbonation, a medium size light brown head, and some lacing.

smell is faint, cocoa, weak coffee, and a touch of vanilla.

taste is dry, cocoa powder, coffee, and roasted nuts, ends dry with just a smidgen of bitterness.

Appearance: Pours a clear, thin-looking, dark brown body with a ring of beige bubbles.

Smell: Aroma of chocolate, a mild roastiness, and, well, that's about it.

Taste: Chocolate and a touch of roast present a light, general mocha flavor. Mild sweetness. Touch of hop bitterness. Dry finish with a final hint of roasted malt.

Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation.

Drinkability: No thanks, as it's a bit lacking overall.

pours like a solid dark porter - rich brown caramel that verges on black, with some orange caramel highlights at the edges. A fair burnt-caramel-colored pillowy head fades to a collar leaving some sporadic doughy lacing down the glass.

Aroma is fairly average, with some good roasty notes. Dark chocolate and a hint of old coffee grounds along with toasted dark bread. There's a spicy piny hop kick along with just a bit of citrus zesty hopping.

Taste is in line with the aroma, with a strong and robust yet middle of the road roasted porter profile augmented with some heavy northwest hopping. Roasted malt, caramel and coffee sweetness, with some dark chocolate bitterness up front. Then the hops kick in with a sharp note, a bit rough around the edges. The malts come back with a rough woody sharpness to combat the hop bitterness and citrusy notes, and it starts to get a bit chaotic. A bizarre swordfight of sharp flavors yielding in a rough and only somewhat enjoyable strong flavor.

Mouthfeel is stout, with some chewiness and some creamy carbonation. A bit dry with some bittering on the tongue, augmented by the oily hop bitterness usually found in DIPAs. Interesting, although not entirely welcome.

All in all, this is a solid porter with a definite northwest flair. Flavors are robust and a bit rough for my tastes. But at the same time, the darkness and richness makes this an appealing porter with some unique notes. Could be interesting with a bit of age, enough to mellow out a bit of the hops and hopefully bring out a bit more of the great roasted porter notes. Worth a shot, and it's not a badly priced bomber, but not one I'd necessarily seek out again any time soon.

"I got a craven love for blazin' speed
I got a hopped up mustang ford
Jump into the wagon, love
Throw your panties overboard"

--from 'Highwater' by Bob Dylan


Tootsie Roll brown with orange and amber highlights at the margins. I'm thrilled to see that Highwater is opaque since I like my porters to be on the well-malted side. The correlation between darkness and robustness doesn't always hold, of course. The golden carmel crown is full of personality and is depositing an impressive amount of lace so far (and eventually).

The nose is a good one, not a great one. It's acceptably aromatic, with a straightforward roasted maltiness that holds down the bottom end, while a citric fruity hoppiness thrashes about on the top end. Although it doesn't smell like a scathingly hoppy beer, it smells like the little green cones will have a great deal to say for themselves on the palate.

Highwater Porter tastes exactly like smells. 'Good, not great'... remember? If anything, the hops are more up front. If blinded, I'm pretty sure that I could have guessed what region of the country this ale hails from. Pacific NW beer is so deliciously hoppy, almost no matter the style.

The flavor profile consists of melted Hershey's kisses mixed with grapefruit juice. Like I said above... straightforward. There are very few accessory flavors that one occasionally finds in a porter (such as roasted barley, coffee and dark fruit). There might have been, if the hop juice wasn't so prominent. Hopheads who also like chocolate malt should be in hog heaven. That describes me, but I still can't pull the trigger on the next highest flavor score.

I wouldn't call it robust, but the mouthfeel is bigger than the mouthfeel on your average porter. It's even bigger than your average Irish dry stout (no mean feat, that). I especially like the way the mouthfeel finds its smoothness groove as the beer gets within spitting distance of room temperature.

I love Skagit Sculler's IPA and I think Dutch Girl Lager is pretty good too. Highwater Porter isn't quite in their league, but it's still tasty beer that is satisfying my hop jones in a backdoor sort of way. While I wouldn't say that I'd want to drink it 'come hell or highwater', this is a worthy, well-brewed American porter.

Okay, it looks like a typical porter. Deep, abyss-like ruby with a light tan head. Head is a bit on the dense and pillowy side, but nice dark profile.

I like the smell, but it is a bit too sweet and a bit too chocolatey for a porter. More akin to a sweet stout, or an oatmeal stout.

Despite the sweet smell, the taste is rather bitter. A bit too hopped for my liking, and a bit dry. The taste looses the chocolatey, malty smell. Malts are there for sure, but the hops seem to just kill the sweetness. Drier than many porters I've had.

Good carbonation on this, but the dry bitter taste -almost like high grade baker's chocolat- make this a bit less drinkable than I'd like.

Regardless, this is a decent brew and I'd like to try more from Skagit River. Might be worth making a trip down to Mount Vernon....