Town Hall Coffee Stout

A surprise and a delight went hand in hand when I saw the words "coffee" and "stout" underneath the word, "Cask" at Town Hall tonight. My favorite sub-style, on cask?? Unbelieving, I grilled the barman, who confessed that they do this "from time to time", add a little concentrated coffee grounds, in a tightly wound nylon mesh(a method I was familiar with, having used it to make cold-press coffee at a local cofee shop/ice cream cafe, years ago) to their regular Black Water Oatmeal Stout. The BlackH20 is good, but this thing is another realm altogether. Beautiful cascading effect, from the cask, great, well-retained cocoa/tan head. Aroma: Everything Coffee!! No other way to describe it! Real, authentic, actual coffee, placed in the confines of a very fine stout= perfection, in my eyes! Add to that it's freshly made, freshly tapped (within the past few days, at least...I was here last Wednesday, and it wasn't), cask-conditioned... Wow! I love it, I totally, honestly love it! Smooth, but full-bodied. Huge malt, small hops, excellent texture, and overwhelming, in the best possible way, with true coffee flavor. I've died and gone to heaven, not far from home! How good is that? Amazing! Drinkability pulled back a bit, for it was so rich and thick and flavorful that I couldn't finish my second pint. (Though it was my 6th pint of the day!) I will take every opportunity that I can to imbibe this until it leaves us again, and we must hope upon the chance of it's arrival once more!

On-cask at the brewpub: How gorgeous is that pour! Lovely off-matte black color with the unforgetable flow of yellowy cascade flying up the glass. The cap reaches about a finger high of oatmealy rich and thick yellowed light-tannish froth. It sits and sits, always present with a great pride of stern girth that takes a very long time to reach its final stage of thick skimming. Lacing is thick and patchy of strings all over the place. Aroma is wonderfully displayed here. Super fine mixing of oaty sweetness, roasty edged cocoa, and a miraculous freshly ground coffee bean tone that isn’t overly potent but just right in regards not to overtake the other elements of its richly demeanor. Taste is more of the same, oh, how is this so? Umm, I don’t know, but it is so. A perfect meld of flavors here, maintaining a great mild tone and character. Rich, full, smooth, and nearly perfect coffeeness to it. It reminds of a fresh Jamician blend I had that was one of the most drinkably smooth coffees I’ve ever had. That’s what this stuff is like. Lightly sweet with some oaty factors, nice milding chocolate/cocoa dustings, and that terrificly balanced coffee sense. Very fresh and rich, I swear I was picking coffee grounds out of my teeth it seemed that fresh. Its not like that full on coffee richness found in Bell’s Java Stout but is damn close. Mild yet fulfillingly yummy! Feel is way to smooth... yikes man, its cask character is sooo nice. The warmer served temp gives it the impression of drinking a semi-warm coffee; brilliant. Mega fresh, with a heavenly smooth and rich medium body that floats across the palate and drys out ever so delicately leaving coffee beans and oaty sweetness parked around ever corner of the mouth. This stuff rocks! On-cask this was supurb.

Big thanks to Davo for bringing a growler of this to the Heavyweight Open House in May ’05. It was the best beer of the day (IMHO). Oily black with a thick, tan head. Rich roasted aromas of espresso and malt. Taste is silky smooth with flavors of cocoa, coffee and cream. Balanced perfectly.

Tasted from Growler. Poured a dark, dark black color with an averaged sized off white head. Main aroma and tastes of coffee. Dark chocolate, roasted malts and some dark fruits as well. This one was all about the coffee but not in a bad way.

Nice pure black with a good beige head. Aroma is pure fresh brewed coffee with hints of chocolate. Flavor was predominantly coffee with lots of roasted malts and some chocolate. Very smooth mouthfeel- body was actually a bit light but very nice.