My birthday was yesterday and we went out for some Mexican food for dinner. I didn’t really get a chance to try a good beer, so tonight I thought I’d pull one out of the beer fridge. I don’t remember exactly where I got this beer. I thought maybe it was one of the beers my sister brought me back from her trip to Asheville, North Carolina last year but since it’s from Wisconsin I think I may have gotten it locally somehow.
Location: Poured into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.
Numbers: 5.8% ABV, ~140 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s very black in color and I couldn’t see anything through it even when I held it up to the light. It has a thin creamy, tan head on it, and the aroma is a mix of roastiness, coffee, and dark cocoa.
Taste & Feel: The body is light and the mouthfeel is somewhat smooth, but has a little bit of tingle from the carbonation in it. The flavor up front is a semi-sweet roastiness and dark cocoa that becomes a bit stronger in the middle and is joined by some dark roasted coffee flavors. In the finish, the flavors become a bit more bold, and the roastiness becomes bitter with the coffee and dark cocoa in the background. The bitter roastiness lasts for a minute or so in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: This beer has a lot of roasty flavor and bitterness, and it went pretty good with tiramisu my wife made me for my birthday. I think it would probably also go great with a steak, with the roastiness playing off of the char from the steak.
Overall Impression: This beer had a lot of roasty malt flavors, and I would have preferred more coffee-like flavors. The body was pretty light, and it was pretty drinkable, but roasty malt flavors dominated this beer. There were some undertones of coffee and dark cocoa, but I think a coffee stout should have a more pronounced and complex coffee flavor. Overall, it was an OK beer, but there are much better coffee stouts out there.
My Rating: 
Recent Comments