Big Pig Porter
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

 

 

I love the regular Pig Iron Porter. The addition of bourbon takes this beer to the next level. Smells awesome and tastes great. Silky smooth with prominent bourbon as it warms up and notes of chocolate and coffee. Delicious.

Poured from a 25.3oz bottle into pint glass in January 2022. There was no bottled on date on the bottle. I bought the beer at the Iron Hill Brewery's Ardmore restaurant, and drank it within two weeks of purchase.

Appearance: Very dark black with a large dark tan head. Head was about 2 fingers high, and lasted a minute. It left only a little lacing on the glass, and ended with a thin tan head still on the beer.

Smell: Aroma of bourbon, coffee, and roasted grain. There is also some chocolate and caramel, but overall the bourbon and coffee dominate the others.

Taste: There is a strong coffee flavors, with nice bourbon flavors. I also taste some chocolate and licorice flavors, as well as malty flavors. Also, There is a small amount of bitter hop flavors to enhance the taste. There is a nice alcohol presence, which matches the 7.5% on the label, but the alcohol and bourbon flavors are not over-powering like some other imperial barrel-aged porters or stouts.

Mouth-feel: Medium-Full body, but also smooth. It has a little edge, as an Imperial Porter should.

This is a very good Porter, and I enjoyed the variety of bold flavors. The balance of flavors between the porter and bourbon from barrel-aging is very good. Even though it is a medium/full-bodied beer, it is still smooth and enjoyable to drink. I would like to compare this bourbon-aged Porter to Iron Hill's Pig Iron Porter. I would buy this again, and even though this is a 25th anniversary special reserve, wish it was available longer.