Southern Tier Jah-va

Almost no head and very little carbonation from a vigorous pour. Rich and strong bitter coffee aroma with some dusty charcoal, walnuts and a hint of spearmint in the background. Color is black as tar with bit of port around the edges. Wow, lively flavor. Something jumps up at you in the first taste. Can’t quite put my finger on it though. Strong coffee notes again, more gritty charcoal. Sweet and roasty. Amazingly though, the coffee does not overpower. Big alcohol presence that shows up late swallow and lingers for a while. Definately a sipping brew. Finishes long strong and roasty. Having a little trouble getting over the grittiness and I was careful not to disturb any sediment if there was any. Must be the coffee grains. A top quality impy especially if you like coffee. Thanks to chimplechamp and etowneraser for this one.

Bottle courtesy of my new friends at Canal’s in Berlin, NJ. Midnight brown pour supporting a dense and creamy head the color of coffee ice cream (appropriately enough). Aroma of roasted malt, coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Pronounced coffee flavor but not overpowerly so. More bittersweet chocolate and roasted malt in there as well with hints of vanilla, toffee and a thin curtain of hops. Texture is creamy and the finish is very long, sweet and complex. Hard to believe this is a 12% ABV brew because the alcohol is incredibly well hidden, even in the finish. Great looking and great tasting beer.

On tap. This stuff is out of control. It could substitute for an after dinner espresso with ease. Straight boozy coffee, but tasty boozy coffee.

Bottle: Pours a dark black with a small brown head. Smell is of chocolate with coffee flavors filling in in the background. Taste is similar, chocolate in the foreground with roasty flavors pulling through followed immediately by coffee. The more you drink, the more the flavor seems to warm up... more of a cappuccino type flavor in this one. Tastes just a tad warm with alcohol, but this is a good one, perfect for the strange 40 degree drop in temperature we’ve had here in my fair city.

3/24/07 @ Buckeye Beer Engine: Black w/a lasting tan/mocha colored head. Chocolate, coffee, & a bit of solventy alcohol up front in the nose; light caramel & winey alcohol notes as it warms. A touch of burnt plastic phenols as well for some reason. Lghtly burnt/acrid flavor in the immediate sip, folllowed by a smooth chocolate, coffee, and toasted malts. Very light raisiny fruit, and overall balanced to malty sweet, but not cloying. Finish is semi sweet balanced by dark malt acidity as well as hops. Aftertaste is light herbal hop bitterness w/ coffee in the lingering aftertaste. Creamy, smooth m/f, warming alcohol, and full bodied. Nicely balanced but I’m not too hip on the burnt/acrid flavors up front that seem to permeate most of the flavor profile until the finish, but it does finish well.

Poured into my delirium tremens tulip. Pours a thick viscous dark brown almost black with only a slight head. A nice ring of froth sits atop the beer. Smell is very good coffee bean, roasted malts and there was some alcohol coming through as well. Taste is much of the same. This is a very, very good beer that belongs in the same category as Expedition Stout and Speedway Stout. By far my favorite Southern Tier offering.

Dense black, thin tan creamy head. Rich aromatics of medium roast mocha java, hints of black currants, dark chocolate, and fig, with a nice soft underlying vinous tone. Flavor is well integrated roasted coffee, chocolate, and hints of port. Well balanced and well rounded. Medium to full bodied, soft carbonation, oily, roasty finish. Very well done, but if you’re not a fan of coffee...

Inky brown with practically no head. Intense coffee and chocolate aroma, and taste is same with stinging licorice, and syrupy sweetness. I am not particularly fond of this product, but it is still obviously quite good $8.25/22oz