Big River Grille Espresso Stout

Brewed by Big River Grille & Brewing Works Chattanooga (Gordon Biersch)
Style: Sweet Stout
Chattanooga, Tennessee USA

Serve in English pint

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One of my first coffee stouts. And it’s actually made with espresso, not coffee, from a local coffee shop in Chattanooga. Looks black with just a little bit of light shining through, not completely opaque. Smell is of roasted espresso(coffee) and chocolate, hops are barely detectable. Taste has a lot of espresso in the front of it with chocolate and malty goodness going on. Really good taste. Lots of roasted qualities. Moutfeel is definitely thin for this, especially for a stout, but it’s not weightless, just needs some more body. Even though the mouthfeel is lacking, I drank about 6 of these in a night and could have had more. I love coffee stouts. So if you don’t like coffee or espresso, stay away, but otherwise, this a good choice.

Dark dark brown, light tan head. Fresh pressed espresso, milky latte, chocolate aroma. Taste is roasty, coffee, espresso, chocolate, a bit too thin for the nice flavors.

Appearance: Served up a dark brown, near black body crowned with a half inch-high layer of beige foam. Smell: The nose is reasonably diverse, though nothing about it is particularly bold, as it presents only modest notes of coffee, charred bread crusts, chocolate, and caramel. Taste: Unsweetened chocolate powder with a slackened taste of roasted grains followed by a charge of espresso flavor and buttery caramel. Slender hint of dark fruitiness. Minor, predominately roasty bitterness. Light chocolate and coffee tones on the finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied (just barely). Medium carbonation (again, just barely). Drinkability: Not so bad, but, by no means is it the best. Still, it’s worth signing up for a pint when stopping by the Chattanooga location.

On tap at Disney’s Boardwalk. Pours black and thick with a dark chocolate head. Nice chocolate, roasted malt coffee aroma. Thick roasted malt coffee taste. Finishes with a clean dry roasted aftertaste.

UPDATED: JAN 24, 2010
Date: September 10, 2005
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Chattanooga
Appearance: black, scant tan head
Aroma: big roasted coffee aroma
Body: thin body
Flavor: big roasted coffee flavor
Overall: more coffee than anything, good for a cup of coffee

Date: February 25, 2006
Source: blind coffee stout tasting
Appearance: dark ruby, frothy beige head
Aroma: sweet malt aroma with a nice coffee character
Body: body is a bit thin
Flavor: good coffee flavor, nice bitterness, hint of ash, touch of chocolate

Date: January 23, 2010
Mode: draft
Source: brewpub
Appearance: black, fine beige head, streaks of drippy lace
Aroma: rich espresso aroma
Flavor: rich coffee flavor, dark roast, touch of buttery caramel sweetness, long dry roasted finish

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ** /4

Growler. Poured a very dark brown color witha ruby tint and a small tan head. The aroma was fruity with coffee and light ash. Coffe flavored with roasty malt. Some tartness like you sometimes get with coffee. Dry bitter finish. Light to medium bodied.

Growler. Opaque brown with small head. Bitter coffee aromas, with some sweet cola chocolate notes. Sweet chocolate malt flavors, with coffee. Thin and watery unfortunately, which was the big killer for me.

Growler sample: Pours a barely transparent dark mahogany brown with a thin light-tan head. Fresh piney hoppy aroma has good chocolate and roasty presence with a touch of coffee. Starts with a thinner, lightly sweet palate with a watery mildly roasted finish. Could use a little more body, but otherwise a nice sweet stout.

Draught at 11th Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga. Pours black with caramel brown hints at the extreme edges of the beer where light begs to pass through. Dark roasted coffee bean aroma hits you like a freshly roasted cup of coffee and then some sweet caramel malt notes pass by your nose long enough to doubt that coffee is the only ingredient. Carbonated coffee flavor is well balanced with a caramel to toffee flavor and very low acidity. Dark and thin, almost watery palate, silky smooth.

Draft sample at the Southern Brewers Festival (9/05). It actually took me a while to find this brew in the data base. I almost reentered it under another name. At any rate, this beer is supposedly brewed with coffee from the Stone Cup Roasting Company. Pours a dark brown with minimal head, clear. The aroma is nutty, malty, and heavy on the coffee/espresso notes. The flavor is (duh) coffee! Quite heavy on the coffee actually. There is also what I will describe as a toffee-ish character but mostly a roasted malt presence and a light sweetness. The body is light-medium but crisp, just like you might describe an iced coffee. Really not a bad brew, but I found my self thinking that I could not drink too much of it.