Central Waters Brewhouse Coffee Stout

Brewed by Central Waters Brewing Co.
Style: Stout
Amherst, Wisconsin USA

Serve in English pint

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GABF 2007. Not sure if this is the same beer, but it’s the only coffee stout for Central Waters in the database, and I don’t know any basis for adding a new one. This beer was awesome. Deep roasty coffee smell, like you have your face in a hopper of freshly ground beans. Good soft carbonation in the mouth, hard candy sweetness hits at first. Not as full as an imperial stout, but where it’s lacking in body it’s not lacking in flavor. Coffee roastiness is perfect in the finish. Except for the odd quasi-wateriness, this could be better than Founder’s Breakfast Stout.

Draft. Black pour with tan head. Roasted malt light coffee aroma tones. Flavor is fuller coffee, roasted, and light nutty tones.

12oz Bottle. Rather thin pour with a short lived head. Nose is heavy coffee and medium on the roasted malt side. Taste is also heavy coffee but not much coffee bitterness. The usual roasted malts, and faint chocolate also make their presence known. Thin on the palate for a stout but very enjoyable overall. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Originally reviewed: 12/20/09. Poured into a standard pint glass. Pours a murky blackish-brown with some ruby tints on the edges. Small capper on the top. Left some sticky lace on the glass. Huge coffee scents waft out. Fresh ground coffee beans, big roasted tones, and hints of light vanilla. Nice creamy smooth beer. Moderate amount of carbonation; complements the style well. Not too filling at all. Nice bitter coffee flavor that finishes sweet and creamy. Mild hop bitterness. If coffee stouts are your thing, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option out there. Wow. What a great beer.

Draught at TJ’s: Aroma of coffee, roasting, cream, and just a great cup of Joe. Poured very deep amber/brown in color with a tiny tan head around the edges only. Hazy. Sparkling. Flavor is lightly sweet and light to medium bitter. Tastes of coffee, malt, roasting, cream, roasting, and my perfect cup of coffee. Medium body. Average texture. Average carbonation. Malt, roast, cream, coffee finish is medium sweet, and medium bitter. 8.2%ABV is completely hidden throughout.

Sampled at an ESBLS tasting. Joe brought it. Lots of red in this and it is more opaque than most. A decent tan head. A sweet fruity nose. Candy cherries. Then some chocolate is smelled. The flavor is coffee and chocolate. Fruit is lighter than the aroma. Some hops are tasted. Not bad at all.

Uh oh, serious goobers floating about - looks like a goddamn blizzard in there... great color and head though, a bit more clarity than one might expect (if it was as dark as most of its peers I probably wouldn’t have noticed all these little sons a bitches dog paddling around in my beer!) Smells real nice, vanilla, caramel, instant coffee, cream. Turned from coffee to caramel latte, very pleasant, bit of nutmeg maybe, vanilla, coffee grinds. Too thin, really the downfall of this beer - lacking carbonation but there really is no need for it. Overall, I’m glad I put a year on one of these, the coffee really evolved without getting bitter or becoming muted - just goes to show that you might not have to follow every little rule to have fun cellaring beer.

A: Rich, solid black body with a large frothy khaki head. Nice retention keeps the head up before forming a nice, substantial skim. Fairly impressive lacing for the style. S: Mellow roasted coffee. Smooth and subtle. Not burnt or charred. Some sweet caramel and chocolate in the background. T: Compared to the nose, there is much more offered here. I really enjoyed the mellowness of the roasted coffee. Some stouts in this style have a potent coffee blast that masks all other flavors. Not so here. A rich, creamy sweetness of other roasted malts impart a delicate chocolate and caramel flavor. M: Smooth, medium bodied. Moderate carbonation maintains the delivery from start to finish. Nice, delicate finish. O: I can’t say enough about the mellow complexity of this offering. It was a pleasant, easy to enjoy experience and is completely deserving of the praise it gets. Just don’t expect an all out coffee assault.

Draught at Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia. Nose and flavor hold espresso, roasted coffee bean and grounds, dark chocolate. Palate is light and drinkable. Good stuff!

Bottled, served in pint glass. Dark brown with a lingering thick, cream-colored head that left nice lacing on the glass. Has a unsurprisingly coffee-y, malty aroma. Taste is slightly sweet with lots of coffee, some chocolate. Minimal hop presence. Bitter finish. Doesn’t taste boozy at all. Creamy mouthfeel. I don’t think I could ask for anything else in a coffee stout. Easily in my top three of Central Waters’ offerings.

The few Central Waters beers I’ve had have been really nice, so while I did enjoy this beer, I just didn’t feel like it did anything for me. The beer pours out a dark brown/black body with dark brown edges and a light, light tan 1/4" head. Aroma starts out with some coffee grounds, walnuts, light vanilla and some wet dirt. It was all really restrained though, as the volume was kept down to 4 instead of blaring at 9 or 10. Flavor had some astringent puckery character that I found a bit off putting, like putting a spoon of coffee and aspirin together. Coffee did show up, but when a brewery calls a beer a "coffee stout", in my opinion, it has to showcase coffee in the best way possible. I just didn’t think this beer did that, as the coffee was too restrained for my liking. I have 4 more beers to change my opinion though.

Re-rate 10/15/2011

Keeping things pretty much the same. It’s not getting any better in any way, but the aroma did change somewhat. What comes out is a Tabasco-like aroma...almost bell-pepper like. It wasn’t bad, and some would probably be off-put by the aroma. I just found it interesting. The coffee level was still very restrained. No way is this an top-notch stout, but drinkable.