Southern Tier Jah-va

22 oz. brown bomber bottle. No freshness date seen. Poured out a dark, inky chocolate brown, with slight red highlights around the edges. Aromas are of roasted coffee beans, baking chocolate, some alcohol. Flavors are of bittersweet baking chocolate, strong espresso, pipe tobacco, alcohol. Thick mouthfeel, slick, oily, somewhat chewy. Alcohol is slightly subdued, but sneaks up on you in a hurry. Finishes slight dry, somewhat chalky & roasty, but delicious all the same

22 oz bottle of the 2008 version. Pours opaque black with a nice medium tan head. Aromas of roasty malts, dark chocolate, coffee, a bit of alcohol. Nice taste of coffee dominates the flavor, dark chocolate, roastiness, a bit of dark fruit. Certainly wouldn’t guess it’s 12%. Creamy, smooth mouthfeel. Nice and enjoyable.

Courtesy of Gillard. Pours deep dark with thin mocha head. The aroma is the obvious label stated coffee, some chocolate, a bit of prunes and caramel. The taste is rich maltiness consisting of dark roasted malts, caramel and chocolate. The coffee comes in near midway and builds some toward the finish. It isn’t the usual Folgers coffee type grains but more a quality brand of rich dark roasty French Roast. In the finish I get a mild warming sensation from the alcohol. Another amazing brew from these fine people.

Pours black with a tan head. Smells of chocolate and coffee. Tastes like a mocha cappuccino. It is the perfect balance of bitter and sweet. Very smooth and bitter finish.

Bottle from funknmilla. great great beer. pours black with a nice tan head. Aromas is(shocker)coffee and chocolate, nice dark chocolate. Flavor is perfectly balanced between chocolate, coffee, and some nice hop on the end. I loved this beer.

Bomber courtesy of GMCC2181. Pours a deep space black with 2 finger tan head. Nose is coffee (duh), dark chocolate and ash. Taste is heavy coffee and dark chocolate with a bitter hop finish. Full chewy creamy mouth feel. Tastes like Starbucks bold coffee of the day with a shot of chocolate, and daddy likes him some strong Starbucks Joe. Thanks D O Double Gizzle G-Dawg!

2005 versus 2008... go! Appearance: The older brew has an oily, inky black body with a brief, tan-colored head. The new brew comes up lighter with a dark brown, reddish-hinted appearance and a thin, off-white head. Smell: The vintage Jah-va displays a rich, dark maltiness smelling of semi-sweet chocolate and roastiness, much like a bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans. The current rendition, however, well, there is a dark malt presence along with embarassingly minor hints of chocolate and roast, but that’s about it. This is a disturbing trend we have here, it’s like the entire heart of the recipe was woefully watered down between 2005 and today. Pity. Taste: Wonderfully roasty and sumptuously sweet, like a dessert featuring coffee and chocolate. A few drops of cherry liqueur. There’s a very light hint of roasty bitterness and a touch of alochol. Sugar dosed coffee lingers beyond the finish. That was the ’05, let’s see what the ’08 can come up with. Some dark maltiness, but only a light taste of chocolate, and almost no coffee. Again, some light bitterness and alcohol. Taste of burnt grains on the bittersweet finish. Yeesh. Mouthfeel: The 2005 has a rich, medium-full body and medium-low carbonation, it’s up-to-date counterpart, again, comes up a bit lacking with a lighter body. Drinkability: The antique Southern Tier Jah-va was very, very good. The newer rendition came up far, far short, and I don’t see any amount of time metamorphosing it into something better. For the review, I’ll average out the two scores. So, I recommend getting your hands on an older bottle or not at all.

draft @ mugs alehouse. I’ve passed this one up many times because I just don’t like the label, but I wanted something dark and heavy after bombing out at the less-impressive local joints. This is proof that a great beer can come in a cheesey label! Black brown, no head. Big nose of roasted malts and chocolate. Taste to match with a light touch of coffee. Long finish of roasted stout goodness. The alcohol is very well disguised - i had no idea I guessed a solid 8% - yeah, it’s that good. Heavy, dense body that seemed to sink very quickly despite my lady-like sips =p Getting a second round was a no brainer. Get some friends!