Review: Highland Oatmeal Porter

Here's my review of the second beer Ben and company at SevenPack.net provided. Highland Brewing Company seems to be a big name on the local scene, and oatmeal porter is an interesting style idea. (A note about the style categorization below: it doesn't quite fit into the Brown Porter category, but it's the best fit possible. A pretty clear example of how, sometimes, the BJCP styles can be limiting.)

Brewery: Highland Brewing Company
Brewery Location: Asheville (western North Carolina)
Beer: Oatmeal Porter
BJCP Style: 12A. Brown Porter
Serving: Bottle

Appearance: Pours black/brown, with a big head; big, loose bubbles cling to the side of the glass; held up to the light, it turns a reddish-brown

Smell: rich, chocolate roast, similar to Bell's Porter--enough to make me salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs!

Taste: Chocolate and roasted malts, with a nice hop balance; flavor starts strong, but diminishes mid-finish, leaving remnants of a roasty aftertaste--could be a tad beefier; I can't sense much of the oat flavor

Mouthfeel: creamy, with carbonation prickly on tongue

Drinkability: A little prickly due to the carbonation, and I wish the beer was meatier mid-finish, but it's still a highly drinkable porter; hints of chocolate and roast, without being overbearing, make this a solid session porter.

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