Big Sky Brewing Company's Cowboy Coffee Porter

Pours a deep, dark, pretty-near-black brown, with a  dark brown, two-finger head that vanishes fairly quickly. As this is the season for stouts and ports, I was happy to see this limited release offering on the seasonal shelf. However, the one downside of any flavored beer, whether it be coffee, chocolate or fruit, is that it somewhat masks the underlying beeriness of the brew. This porter is an exception. The coffee taste and aroma is rich and inviting, but does nothing to detract from the smooth malt sweetness and the subdued hop character. the mouthfeel is pretty thick and creamy, almost stout-like in consistency (but we all know that the line between stouts and porters is a fuzzy, movable one at best). Big Sky. Big flavor.