Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Stout
Ibaraki, Japan

Single bottle. Taste: rich, malty, chocolate-coffee taste with complex nutty aftertaste and some bitter hops taste. It’s not sweet. Palate is heavy and leaves a filmy coffee aftertaste (I didn’t think it was bad). Pretty good beer. I like it better than Dragonhead’s chocolate stout. A little too heavy and intense for me to give it a higher rating. Appearance: Pours pitch black, impenetrable to light, no head, no head retention. Smells faintly of chocolate/coffee. You guys love stouts, lol. Maybe as I rate more beers, I’ll appreciate stouts more. The more experienced people seem to love them.

Pours a dark black with a dark brown head. This beer has one of the most beautiful aromas I’ve ever experienced. Very strong coffee bean/espresso presence as well as a burnt dark chocolate scent. The coffee/espresso theme again is dominant in the taste but a nice dark chocolate taste balances it out perfectly not making it too bitter. A nice combination of caffeine kick and alcohol strength. The best infusion of coffee and alcohol that I have tasted and Hitachino’s best beer.

For some odd reason I could never quite get up the nerve to open this, but tonight I decided to go for it. Not sure what my reservations were, perhaps just a couple of wretched flavored stouts and porters I’ve had over the past few months. In any case, this was a very nice reversal of fortune. Poured black with brownish ruby highlights at the edge, decent dark tan head fades entirely. Aroma was just fantastic, richly dark chocolate with smooth espresso. Flavor was more espresso driven, with chocolate as as the underlying note. Not as thick in the mouth as the aroma would have made you think, but still full bodied. Excellent beer.

A solid stout. Great coffee flavor that doesn’t bitter out as many pervasive coffee flavors can. Actually very little evidence that it’s a beer at all: really tastes like a derivative coffee drink.

Thanks again to drmat for sharing this beer. Pours very dark brown with a small dark orange head. The aroma has lots of espresso, licorice, staleness, chocolate and dark caramel. Medium body with a small amount of sharp carbonation. The flavor starts with espresso, soda shop malt, some sharpness and lactic acid. The finish has a small amount of fruitiness. A decent beer that I’d probably like better if I was a coffee fan.

Almost black , caramel head...fluffy, looks like cappuccino...smells like coffee beans after a chocolate bath and a car bomb, ..in Vineland!....amped up coffee ice cream initially, then the beans, my mouth is saturated with them, and it is fulfilled to the maximum fulfillment....palate is even tempered, medium to full, creamy and supple...I love coffee, so I am jaded to non-coffee fans...I love it!!...Yum....Delish....Succulent!

Black body with small tan head. Smells and tastes like CoffeeTime coffee syrup. Strong esspresso bean aroma and flavor with chocolate notes as well. Certainly sweet. Burnt coffee bitter finish. Mid to full body with nice mouthfeel.

Black pour with dark head. Strong coffee flavor and aroma with both bitter and sweet tones.