Hill Farmstead Twilight of the Idols

A Winter Porter brewed with Coffee and Cinnamon...Aged on Vanilla Beans. Our Holiday Ale is named after the last text written by one of our philosophical idols, Friedrich Nietzsche and his Twilight of the Idols/The Anti-Christ.

Second release: November 2015

3.9

321 reviews

Greensboro, United States

Community reviews

4.0 Bouteille datée du 31/10/2018, bue après 2 mois. Robe brune foncée un peu rougeâtre et surmontée d'un léger col de mousse beige. Arômes de café noir doux, malt torréfié, un peu d'épices, bois sec, poussière. En bouche, malt torréfié et café doux, légère présence de vanille, chocolat noir à faible pourcentage. Finale plus amère portant sur le café, le cacao et un peu de houblons. Texture bien veloutée et corps moyen.

3.6 500mL bottle. Pours black with a moderate tan head. Aroma is coffee (strange, hard-to-place but very distinctive coffee), vanilla, some chocolate, and some caramel. Taste is coffee, cinnamon, roast, vanilla, and caramel. Drying, grainy coffee finish. Roasty coffee grounds bitterness. Medium body. Soft carbonation. Slick but ever so slightly creamy mouthfeel.

4.1 Pours black with a small head, aroma of coffee, vanilla, fruits, honey, flavor of fruits, coffee, vanilla, wood, medium to full bodied

4.0 December 24, 2017 - bottle via trade, 2012 vintage. Black pour with limited head. Aroma was roasted malt, vanilla and coffee. Taste started out with the roasted malt, quickly moved to the coffee and finished with the vanilla and subtle cinnamon. Very smooth, easy to drink.

4.0 500 ml bottle. Pours a pitch black color with a large light brown head. A big dark roast and licorice nose. Huge licorice, sweet coffee, some heavy metallic roast which I love, dark cherry, a lovely palate. Smooth, more metallic roast. Big but very drinkable.

3.8 January 21, 2014 - with blankboy, jercraigs & mabel - 500ml bottle. Opaque ruby-brown with an average light brown head. Aroma is nutty light roast malt with cream, mint, some alcohol. Taste follows, like a minty/creamy chocolate liqueur with some herbal bitterness. Average body - slick, airy, mild carbonation - quick finish with a bit of an earthy bitterness emerging. Simple, but elegant.

3.9 My first Magnum of the Magnum extravaganza. Thanks Adam! Dated 12/15. Opened hours before my arrival. Pours nearly black with a beige head. Aroma is cereal, coffee, molasses, vanilla. Flavor is strong coffee, mild vanilla, a hint of chocolate. Low card, probably due to how long it’s been open. Still quite enjoyable.

3.6 *2/6/2013 550ml bottle poured into a Raleigh Beer Tasting snifter A~ dark, pitch black. with minimal head. S~ lots of dark malts, bitter dark chocolate, and figs with a little bit of coffee. T~ pretty much follows the nose, more fresh coffe beans come out here. on the end theres a little vanilla bean as well. nice and dry with lots of sweetness. M~ not too thick and not thin, really nice and smooth feel. dry on the finish. O~ nice full flavor porter, definitely not my favorite porter but in my opinion its actually a nice mix of a stout and a porter. to me its still all about the pales/IPA’s and saisons/wilds with HF!

3.8 Lots of coffee. Vanilla. Lots of cinnamon. Cocoa powder. Dark brown. Thx patrick.

4.7 Twilight of the Idols showcases Hill Farmstead’s mastery of restraint. You get whispers of the added cinnamon, vanilla, and coffee but never so much that they overstay their welcome. This near-black brew puts bright, rich, and bitter toasted grains at the fore of the mouth and finishes with slight sweetness. The vanilla and cinnamon add a subtle layer of spiciness to the brew. The mouthfeel is creamy - velvety smooth. This is some damn fine stuff.

4.0 (Thanks, Brandon! "Clownoisseur") Bottle. A- Tobacco, cocoa, vanilla. A- Black color, black liquid, brown head. T- Tobacco, char, vanilla, cinnamon, roasty. P- Full body, average texture, average carbonation, balanced finish. O- Another HF beer, another success. Borderline Imperial Porter. Also bottled on my birthday! A year and a half old. Still holding up well. Easy to drink without thinking too much about it. Nice balance of vanilla and cinnamon. Coffee is there but comes through more as an earthy roastiness. Textbook porter.

3.8 50cl Bottle shared by JulienHuxley, thanks Julien! Black colour, beige head. Aroma of soft sweet malts, roast, subtle coffee, chocolate, light fruity. Flavour is medium sweet, malty, soft and well-integrated coffee, chocolate, light fruity, light vanilla, bittersweet finish. Light to medium bodied, soft mouthfeel. Tasty porter.

3.7 2015 bottle with Borresteijn & JulienHuxley, tfs Julien. Black color. big dense beige head with good lacing. Aroma’s: roasty, fruity. Retronasal it’s fruity, a bit alcohol, coffee, less fruit in time. Flavor is moderate sweet, roasty, coffee-ish. Medium bodied. Long finish with lots of roast.

3.9 Pours a dark black color with a thin moka foam. Nose of vanilla, cinammon, caramel malts, undertones of moka coffee, a bit of chocolate. Body is really thick and smooth, texture is creamy. There’s not too much harshness, carbonation or bitterness in this one. It really goes down easy. Excellent porter!

4.1 Pitch black pour with tan head... Aroma of cinnamon, roasted malts, hint of vanilla... Flavor is chocolate, nuts, cocoa powder, cinnamon and light pepper, finishes really mellow and mild, not much bitterness, notes of vanilla, silky mouthfeel, really enjoyable porter

4.0 Backlog, ocena przepisana z untappd, w ramach uzupełniania profilu na ratebeer. HFD #19 Bardzo fajny parterowy charakter, dużo kawy i wanilii, bardzo dobra pijalność.

4.0 Thanks J! Pours a very dark brown with a rich tan head. The smell is coffee, herbal spice, chili? The taste is coffee, rich roasted malt, chili, ending dry and roasty. Medium in body with the typical elegant HF carbonation. Luxurious.

3.8 Une bière noire, à grande carbonatation, avec une couleur fort opaque. Au nez, c’est très torréfié, avec des odeurs prévalantes de café et de cacao, rappelant peut-être un peu plus un stout qu’un porter. Au goût, le café dominé également, avec un petit goût sucré que j’attribue au sucre d’orge et à la mélasse. Pour un porter, on s’attendrait peut-être à plus complexe, avec beaucoup de café. Le corps est bien calibré, présent mais pas trop lourd, crémeux, rappelant un millk stout. La bière n’est peut-être pas ultra originale mais fait bien le travail.

3.8 Bottle shared by Joel. Poured a pitch black medium to thicker density u derived a smaller tight foamy deep mocha head. Aroma/ flavor of coffee, cinnamon, dark chocolate, burnt toast, vanilla beans. Fuller body with softer carbonation and a chalky mouthfeel. Nice

3.7 Apparence : Pas totalement noire, carbonatation moyenne, beau col brun ayant une bonne rétention et une dentelle intéressante sur le verre. Nez : Grains rôtis plein le nez en première impression. On note par la suite le café (bien rôti) et un peu de vanille qui vient tenter de balancer les notes grillées. Goût : Malt rôti, café, touche de vanille et de chocolat. Peu sucrée et peu amère, ce dernier aspect se pointant surtout en finale avec une touche épicée que j’attribue à la cannelle. Sensation : Corps moyen à mince, longueur moyenne en bouche effervescence plutôt faible. Bref : On a ici droit à une bière sans contredit dominée par les notes rôties et ce, autant au nez qu’en bouche. L’apport de la vanille ici, quoiqu’intéressant, est peut-être trop discret pour empêcher le malt et le café d’éclipser plusieurs subtilités que l’on pourrait peut-être trouver dans ce liquide. La cannelle, qui n’a pas figuré au rendez-vous d’un point de vue gustatif, se manifeste par un côté épicé qui vient tout de même nous épargner d’une finale redondante sur les tons de grillé. Facile à boire, elle remplit son rôle de Porter, malgré un taux d’alcool plus élevé que ce qu’on retrouve traditionnellement. Agréable, mais pas renversante.

4.3 Hunted by Sergey; 7.2% ABV; 10.06.16 Black color; brown compact head. Wonderful aroma, coffee, intense, velvety. Dry but extremely smooth; very good flavor of cocoa, chocolate, coffee, a bit spicy; roasty, velvety. Balanced and elegant. Wonderful.

4.0 Tasting at Alex’s. 500ml, bottled on 06-Oct-2016 (thx, Hugo V.!). Pours an almost black with a tan head. Aroma is coffee, roasted malt, some dark fruits. Taste is coffee, some berry notes, roasted malt. Despit I couldn’t find any vanilla presence, this beer is really good.

3.7 Bottle - Dark roast and coffee notes with a touch of spicy cinnamon. Jet black brown with a decent light brown head. Dark roast malts with some cinnamon and coffee notes. Spicy and decent finish.

4.1 Poured into a Hill Farmstead becher pint glass. The appearance was a dark brown mostly close to black color with a great two finger foamy off white to tan head. Mild lacing roaming all around the glass. The aroma took on a great amount of roasty to smooth sweet cocoa to coffee great bitterness. Subtle cinnamon, but super low key, really, it is. Some vanilla bean. The flavor rides on the smoothness of the sweet to roasty cocoa to coffee bean. Subtle riding bitter to a smooth roasty coffee aftertaste sliding on into the finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium like a good American styled porter should sit. Carbonation felt exactly right for what it should be. Overall, a very well done porter that I would have again.

3.8 Bottle with MF666. Black with a medium sized light brown head with fine retention and lace. Rich roasted malt, vanilla, light wood, charcoal and dark chocolate. Full body, low sweetness, medium bitter with light warming alcohol. Long finish. Good.

4.3 On tap at Big Fatty’s. Pours black with a tan head. Roasted malt aroma with chocolate ,coffee, and faint cinnamon. Flavor is roasted malt up front with cocoa,coffee, vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon.

4.6 Pours black with brown head. A strong coffee and roasted malt aroma. A smooth body with a chocolate, milky coffee, and roasted malt taste. Sweet chocolate and lingering roasted malt aftertaste.

3.6 world class porter. looks great and taste great. lots of lace. very smooth. on tap at blackpub.

3.8 A very good holiday Porter. Pours a deep brown-black with a thick tan head. Smells of vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate. Taste is very thick, with lots of cinnamon upfront, followed by vanilla, cola chocolate and coffee. Vanilla sticks around for the aftertaste. Had on tap at Mad Taco in Vermont.

4.2 500ml bottle thanks to Julien. Pours jet black smooth with a light foamy mocha almost marshmallow head. Smells of light chocolate, vanilla cocoa, roasted coffee beans and slightly boozy finish on the aroma. Tastes roasty, sweet, and chocolatey with a great vanilla smoothness and finish. Very, very smooth in comparison to other dark beers I’ve had. Nice light mouthfeel, not too carbonated at all. Great, great porter. Another Banger by Hill Farmstead. Love it.