 Pigfoot (2224), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Jan 16, 2005
I’m having this bottle with leftovers from dinner, but it is 4:30 am, so that’s close enough to call it breakfast, right?(Funny how what began as a common joke, "Oatmeal stout? You should have it for breakfast!" is now coming into it’s own as an individual style.)
Enough with the whimsy, time for the beer!
This one is just what I need now, as the sub-zero wind-chill and the weather in general puts that witches teat to shame, and summarily lays waste to the well-digger’s bum. I need something warm, rich and fortifying...is this it?
Pours out a thick, impenetrable blackness, solid ebon, with slight ruby highlights at the foot of the glass. Head is mighty, massive, twisting slowly down to a most 1/2 ",burnt-toast brown, like chocolate shavings mingled with coffee grounds.
Aroma is right on for the style and then some! Espresso is featured first, then chocolate, roasty all the way, gritty and earthy, rich and thick...a coffee stout that nears an Imperial. Almost like what happened the last time I mixed Bell’s Java Stout with Expedition ...almost.
Velvety feel on the tongue, almost magical the way this warmed-up stout lightly lays over the senses, drifting it’s wonder throughout the mouth. Hops up front, rich coffee texture, tangible in the mouthfeel, a little hot and spicy, backed up by prodigious malt. Full-bodied, with a long, cocoa-coffee finish, plays delicately on the tongue, but lingers long.
This is a very satisfying stout, one that meets almost all of my expectations. I have had coffee stouts with bigger coffee flavor, though, and oatmeals that are smoother and more richly rewarding, as well as chocolate stouts that bring that flavor in full force...this is a very accomplished blend of the three sub-styles of stout, it succeeded in it’s mission quite well, which is to make me consider having this in my coffee cup every morning, inside of the usual dark roast Columbian!
Damned good!
Another impressive offering from Founders, and another very attractive label, even if it does suggest that a child has been consuming the product...watch for for the Grand Rapids Board of Health and Human Services, guys!
Beerman6686 (654), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Aug 19, 2008 Poured a bleak black color with a light tan head. Aroma was of a lot of chocolate and coffee with smoke notes also. Flavor was consumed by the smokey/burnt coffe flavor and not much sweetness as I had expected. Not necisarily a bad thing, just not what the label describes very much.
LilBeerDoctor (442), East Setauket, New York, USA
Aug 18, 2008 Bottle courtesy of iowaherkeye. Pours black with a dark tan head that dissipates rapidly. Aroma of coffee predominantly, followed by roasted malt, nuts, and rich sweet malt. Flavor of coffee roast, peanuts, some burnt malt. Solid body. Great beer (it didn’t awe me though).
fredandboboflo (440), East Setauket, New York, USA
Aug 18, 2008 Bottle. Aroma strong of coffee, quite roasted coffee, some sweet alcohol, and some sort of sweet fruit, maybe black currant? Flavor again has that roasted coffee, some hop bitterness, but mostly bitterness from a malt that becomes increasingly charred although not overbearingly so for the most part. Didn’t really get the creamy, velvety feel others did as all that charred malt finished on the dry side with a strong but particularly noteworthy body. Very nice, but not wowing after that awesome coffee aroma.
BMan1113VR (762), Los Angeles (and Dallas, TX), California, USA
Aug 17, 2008 Bottle thanks to mibirder. Ultra thick pour. Large rocky, dark brown head that leaves good lacing. Body is black as sin. Aroma is strong coffee, oatmeall, some vanilla and light chocolate. Taste is strong coffee, and finishes with bitterness from chocolate, and some oatmeal, as well as light tobbaco. Alcohol is well hidden. Creamy mouthfeel, light bubbles.
sirpsycho (166), Murrysville, Pennsylvania, USA
Aug 16, 2008 Bottle. Pours an almost black/brown, nice brown head. Aroma is subdued chocolate and coffee. Flavor hits you over the head with bitter chocolate and bitter, roasted coffee, but not bitter in a bad way. Malty and decadent. If your a coffee and chocolate lover, this ones for you.
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