Mocha Porter
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

On tap at Iron Hill Lancaster on 12/6/09. However, it was listed as Mocha Stout instead of Mocha Porter. I gather it's the same beer, though.

A - Deep, rich mocha-colored body with a sturdy finger's width of frothy tan head that settled into a patchy film and deposited thin strands of lace down the sides of the glass.

S - Mmmmm... cocoa powder and freshly ground coffee, although this leans a bit more toward the coffee. Some caramel and mougat malt sweetness emerges from underneath the dominant coffee and chocolate character.

T - Opens with bitter dark chocolate combined with a prevalent roasted malt and coffee presence, and just a pinch of vanilla. A touch of alcohol emerges in the backend, followed by a slight nutty character. Finishes with an earthy, dry roasted bitterness.

M - Full bodied, rich and creamy with mild carbonation. Quite robust to say the least. Finishes sweet on the palate with some warm bitterness on the back of the tongue.

D - Iron Hill Lancaster's stouts have really been off the hook lately, and this is no exception. Chalk up another truly awesome creation from Paul and Colin.

On tap @ Iron Hill Lancaster on 11/19/09 during the Afternoon Delight Bottled Reserve Release Party. Served in a oversized mug. This is an experimental, one-off, 50/50 blend of the house Imperial Coffee Porter and Imperial Chocolate Stout.

Pours a very dark brown (I'm getting some hints of red shining through the body as well), with a smooth and creamy looking head of dark mocha/light chocolate colored foam. Both the retention and lacing maintains a rich and frothy look. The coffee beans jump out immediately in the aroma, with a smooth roastiness in the nose and offering no astringency to speak of. DEEP notes of chocolate, cream, toffee, and roasted malts fill out the back of this, along with the fresh feel of citric and floral hops. Good stuff here but this leans very heavily to the coffee side overall.

The taste is Wow! It's hard to tell which beer really comes out first here but I guess that I'll go with the Coffee Porter, with that same velvety roasty character hitting the tongue first before thick notes of almost Hershey syrup-like chocolate ooze in, along with some sweeter caramel tang. Java flavors creep into the back as well, this time bringing some more citric tones with it. Extra aggressive roast and hops give the overall profile a very dark and biter feel at times but there is more than enough sweetness here to keep it from being too much. Good overall balance here between the two beers, including the finish, which is equal parts sweetness and dark roast. The mouthfeel is full bodied, with a big mouth filling rich prickliness to carbonation, which evenly disperses all of those dark flavors around. A much thicker layer is felt underneath but it mostly covered up by all of that sharpness. This doesn't possess quite the awesome feel and drinkibility of the Shokolad Imperial Stout (too much roast and sharpness from the Afternoon Delight holds it back) but this still drinks very nicely for a near 10% beer.

Quite the tasty little (OK, maybe not so little) blend of two power house dark beers from Iron Hill Lancaster here. I can't really say that the flavors were 100% split down the middle (the nose got a little too wild with the coffee flavor) but this was still a very enjoyable blend. Kudos to Paul & Co. for giving this type of deal a shot.