Terrapin Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout

Brewed by Terrapin Beer Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Athens, Georgia USA

Great coffee roasty aromas, come chocolate. Pours dark pretty much black with a tan head. Great coffee and roasted barley flavors, thick, great mouth feel, very smooth. Awesome on draft.

Bottle thanks to Ughsmash. Abnormally huge and lively brown head - makes me a little worried if something has gone bad - although it did dissipate. Aromatic notes of coffee, chocolate, and roasted malts. Mouthfeel is smooth and velvety but the taste is a bit off. Lots of chocolate and coffee but with sour/metallic twist - maybe the hop variety isn’t working so well here. Finish is very roasty and dry.

Good sized dense brown head of fine creamy bubbles. Decent carbonation. Wow, big coffee aroma with loads of oatmeal, cigarette ash and actually some very fresh cut grass in the background. Color is essentially black. Lively in the mouth. Lots of coffee again, a dry bitterness, roasted grains. Body is actually a little bit thinner than I expected. Clean finish with some lingering roasted grains and coffee. Thanks to TBC for this one (I think).

When Terrapin says this is a coffee stout, it is not talking about subtle notes of coffee. From the aroma to the flavor, coffee dominates. As pleasant as that can be for coffee lovers, it also makes this impy somewhat of a one-trick pony. Dark brown pour with a large, creamy head. The aroma is like smelling sweet, roasted coffee beans. There’s not much room for anything else, but if you work at it you can pick up notes of vanilla and chocolate. The flavor is moderately sweet and moderately acidic. Only lightly bitter. Dry finish. Lots of carbonation.

Bottle. [thank you boutip]. When opening the bottle, a lot of mist came out, actually running down the side of the bottle lies dried ice. When pouring, I almost only got head... when it lowered, I poured more sensibly and it settles nicely. A very dark; almost black liquid. Head is very bubbly to begin with, but it settles as creamy beige. Aroma is very powerful - there is so damn much coffee that it actually gets the tartness of freshly ground coffee. There is some vanilla and caramel hidden in there as well. Not that creamy or oily, but actually kind of fresh in the mouthfeel. Flavour begins with a serious pang of cold coffee with the same tartness inherent in the aroma. Then it turns lightly sweet with caramel coming through. Finish is quite dry with dark chocolate and again lots of coffee. Onde-dimensional, but probably the best cup of cold coffee I’ve had :o)

Enjoyed this one (long ago) at the Terrapin "Horizontal" Monster Tasting at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, Ga. Appearance: Bears a turbid black opaqueness topped by a dense tan-colored sudsy head. This beer just exudes a kind of delicious stickiness. ("I hate to see you doing this to yourself." - Liver) Smell: Fresh French-press coffee all over the nose. In fact, the coffee aspect is a real nose hog here, as I smell little else (but with real coffee in the brew, what did you expect?). A few brief hints of dark chocolate (topped with coffee), Kahlua (with a coffee chaser), and roasted caramel (over coffee ice cream). Very alluring! If you don’t enjoy coffee, let’s just stop right here. Otherwise, proceed! Taste: Each mouthful is arabicrammed with rich coffee goodness. A great roasted malt profile kept in check by a luscious creaminess. At first, I thought there was a slight hop presence, but later I was of the opinion that there wasn’t one - which is just fine with me. Let the hoppy beers have their hops, and let the coffee-loaded stouts have their coffee, I say. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, but was rather thick on the tongue, with a very smooth, oily texture and a long espresso-like finish. The alcohol is altogether warming and soothing. I’m really gonna need a good palate scrub after this one. Drinkability: This stout is in no way a weakling, but its not overly heavy. Absolutely one-dimensional with its intense, well-defined coffee flavors, though it is upfront about it (and I can’t fault it for it). Considerably drinkable for being a coffee-laced beer containing a decent amount of alcohol. In short, this was a very enjoyable (coffee) stout.

Thanks to moejuck for this awesome (bonus!) 2007 bottle. Nice blackish pour with a thick tan head. Aroma is thick with quality coffee, chocolate, and some well-roasted grain. Taste is of a nice dark-roasted coffee with some chocolate added in. Good, not great as an impy, but one of the finest Breakfast/Coffee stouts around. Went perfect with a homemade omelet during my late Saturday A.M. breakfast.

2006 Bottle: Dark as night pour with a foamy mocha head. The fresh brewed coffee note dominates the nose, with a layer of chocolate and nut beneath. The body is overly carbed and detrimental to the style. More roasted beans fill the mouth, with fleeding notes of vanilla, baker’s chocolate and caramel into the dry finish. Unfortunately the spritzy carbonation stands in the way of this really meshing.