Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Stout
Ibaraki, Japan

Serve in English pint

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Bottle from State Line. Big, big espresso nose. High praise coming: one of the top two or three coffee stout noses I’ve sampled, and probably the closest to actual espresso before taking on a more chocolatey tone. Opaque pitch pour with a dark brown head, soapy and foamy and excited. Initial taste is pure espresso - less bitter than the actual stuff, but the ring of it is the same. Roast, chocolate, and even the dregs at the bottom of the tiny cup, with lesser contributing notes of vanilla and faint bourbon. Bittersweet and burned, big league taste in session form (7.5% excluded). Alcohol is very well integrated and non-intrusive. Velveteen feel and a medium, still thickish body. Aftertaste is dry and slightly woody. Clean and really yummy! I’ve liked this brewery for some time, and this is another treasure.

11.2oz bottle, no date from John’s Grocery. Almost black with a 1/2 finger tan head, fades to a ring before long. Lots of coffee (plus the acidity that comes with it), roasted malts and chocolate (both milk and dark). A touch of salty soy sauce was in there as well. The flavor was quite roasty with a fair amount of acidity again, some dark and sweet milk chocolate and anise following through to a bitter chocolatey dry finish. Alcohol was present, but never to the point of Medium creamy body with moderate carbonation. This wasn’t ungodly complex, but what was there is very good. Glad to have had the chance to try this one.

Oily brown / black with pleasant bright brown "crema." Aroma is very espresso with cocoa notes. Taste is same as aroma with evenly biting bitterness in true espresso fashion. $4/12oz

Beautiful dark brown body. Bitter coffee aroma with a faint chocolate characteristic. Ultra bitter body that killed the other flavors.

Pours black with a tan head that lasted. Aroma was definitely heavy on coffee, with some hints of dark chocolate and toasted walnut coming through as well. Flavor was an inital blast of both dark chocolate and dark roasted coffee, with a subtle hint of vanilla, which then yielded to a long lasting roasted coffee finish, a very good beer.

Black pour, slightly opaque around the edges with a nice sized, creamy light brown head. Roasted coffee aroma. Thick, full bodied and creamy mouthfeel. Definitely a strong coffee stout. Primarily roasted coffee, espresso, nuttiness and woodsy/oak undertones. Long, bitter finish. Alcohol well hidden. Pretty good, but I think a bit overrated. Of course, I’m not a huge coffee fan so that may play a part.

This is an excellent coffee beer. Full coffee aroma, but cocoa is also present. Very dark brown, and not especially thick. Flavor is coffee as well, with a cocoa powder-like grittiness.

Sampled from 12-oz bottle at Cellar’s Wine & Spirits in St Paul, Minnesota. Pours an opaque pitch dark brown brew with a thin tan head that quickly dissolves to a tan ring. Aroma of distinct coffee grounds, dark toasted malt, dark chocolate, with a touch of toffee. Taste is thick, full bodied, light carbonation with dark toasted malt and coffee flavors. The coffe taste is overpowering of all flavors. Finish has a dark bittersweet chocoalte aftertaste that stick around for a while. Taste from beginning to finish.

New arrival at John’s Grocery in Iowa City. 330 ml bottle served at cellar temperature. Poured an opaque black color. Head was thick and cocoa colored with good retention and lacing. I didn’t detect more than subdued coffee in the aroma. Smelled more like milk chocolate to me. There was also an occasional whiff of green chili pepper. Perhaps my olfactory lobe is still overwhelmed with glee from the Ølfabrikken porter I tried a few minutes ago. Sweet and chocolatey with coffee coming out more in the flavor. There was moderate roasty bitterness throughout which strengthened toward the end and lingered with a distinct coffee aftertaste. Good beer.

330ml bottle shared courtesy of egajdzis. Poured a dark brown color with an averaged sized tan head. Aromas of coffee grounds, espresso, vanilla, roast, and chocolate. Tastes of coffee, earthy, roast, chocoalte, and vanilla. I want coffee in any beer that has espresso in its name and this one didn’t disappoint me (especially in the aroma).