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Coffee Chocolate Stout
Guadalupe Brewing Co.
- From:
- Guadalupe Brewing Co.
- Texas, United States
- Style:
- American Stout
- ABV:
- 7.22%
- Score:
- 84
- Avg:
- 3.66 | pDev: 13.93%
- Reviews:
- 1
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Jun 12, 2015
- Added:
- Oct 01, 2014
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 2
No description / notes.
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Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado
3.19/5 rDev -12.8%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
3.19/5 rDev -12.8%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
22 fl oz brown glass bottle with appealing coffee bean themed label and unbranded black pry-off pressure cap purchased at my local H-E-B grocery and served cold into a snifter at low altitude in Austin, Texas.
Reviewed live as an American stout. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated. Allowed to come to room temp over the course of consumption. Expectations are average given the brewery.
7.22% ABV per the label. Brewed with local espresso beans from Texas Artisan Roasters.
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: Tan colour. Thin and weak. Has a watery fizzy consistency. Recedes completely within five seconds, leaving no lacing. Pathetic.
BODY: More schwarzbier than stout, the body is a cola black punctuated by thin watery carbonation bubbles. This could easily be mistaken for Coca Cola, but then it's also a bit watery; far from a solid black. Nontransparent and nontranslucent. Weak-looking. Doesn't have the mirror shine of most stouts. Given its opacity, no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.
A poor overall appearance for a stout.
AROMA: Burnt coffee beans are prominent, and emphasize some lovely roasty character, but an intrusive acrid earthy bitterness kind of ruins it. Schwarz malts, a hint of roasted barley (or maybe that's just the coffee roast), weak chocolate malt, and watery espresso.
I love the roastiness, but ultimately its watery diluted aroma makes me suspicious. The coffee isn't as full, deep, or interesting as it needs to be. This isn't on par with the aromas of good coffee stouts. Average intensity.
No hop notes, yeast character, or overt alcohol is detectable.
TASTE: Lightly burnt coffee beans. A hint of roast. Chocolate malts. Schwarz malts. A bit of espresso. Luckily, this isn't as acrid, harsh, or bitter as the aroma suggested. While it is just as weak and watery as anticipated, there are some nice flavours here. It's ultimately rather simple, and I hoped for far more depth of flavour. It's shallow and lacks a strong malty core. The chocolate is a huge letdown; there's no creamy milk chocolate, cacao dust, rich dark chocolate, etc...just some weak chocolate malts.
No yeast character, alcohol, hop notes, or off-notes are detectable.
Low intensity of flavour. Brief flavour duration.
It's not an intricate or complex build for a coffee stout by any means; in fact, this is amongst the most pedestrian attempts at the style I've come across in probably the past year. There's a bit of subtlety where the coffee is concerned, but I crave a rich roastiness or a rounded diverse full coffee character, which it doesn't provide.
To its credit, it leans towards the roasty bitter side rather than the sweet side of the stout spectrum, which I respect. Not a dessert stout by any means.
TEXTURE: Weak, watery, and light-bodied. Perfectly carbonated. Smooth and wet. Thin.
This texture can hardly support the flavour profile, and is a poor companion to the taste as a result. It needs to be fuller, softer, creamier, and more assertive.
Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, or harsh.
OVERALL: The best thing I can say about it is that it does a damn good job of hiding its relatively high ABV. The coffee is disappointing, the chocolate is disappointing, and the (lack of) stout malt base is disappointing. I do like some of what's going on with the coffee (especially the roast), and the burnt character is lovely. But this just plain can't compete with good beers in the style - let alone world class ones. It brings very little to the table. You don't have to have big assertive flavours to make a good stout, but you do need impeccable balance and a good full presence on the palate.
As critical as I am of it, I'll enjoy finishing the bottle. It's certainly drinkable. Guadalupe Brewing continues to underwhelm, but I think it's more because they're green than anything else; I do think this is a sincere inspired attempt at the style. I'd love to see them dial it in. Certainly above average.
High C+
Oct 01, 2014Reviewed live as an American stout. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated. Allowed to come to room temp over the course of consumption. Expectations are average given the brewery.
7.22% ABV per the label. Brewed with local espresso beans from Texas Artisan Roasters.
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: Tan colour. Thin and weak. Has a watery fizzy consistency. Recedes completely within five seconds, leaving no lacing. Pathetic.
BODY: More schwarzbier than stout, the body is a cola black punctuated by thin watery carbonation bubbles. This could easily be mistaken for Coca Cola, but then it's also a bit watery; far from a solid black. Nontransparent and nontranslucent. Weak-looking. Doesn't have the mirror shine of most stouts. Given its opacity, no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.
A poor overall appearance for a stout.
AROMA: Burnt coffee beans are prominent, and emphasize some lovely roasty character, but an intrusive acrid earthy bitterness kind of ruins it. Schwarz malts, a hint of roasted barley (or maybe that's just the coffee roast), weak chocolate malt, and watery espresso.
I love the roastiness, but ultimately its watery diluted aroma makes me suspicious. The coffee isn't as full, deep, or interesting as it needs to be. This isn't on par with the aromas of good coffee stouts. Average intensity.
No hop notes, yeast character, or overt alcohol is detectable.
TASTE: Lightly burnt coffee beans. A hint of roast. Chocolate malts. Schwarz malts. A bit of espresso. Luckily, this isn't as acrid, harsh, or bitter as the aroma suggested. While it is just as weak and watery as anticipated, there are some nice flavours here. It's ultimately rather simple, and I hoped for far more depth of flavour. It's shallow and lacks a strong malty core. The chocolate is a huge letdown; there's no creamy milk chocolate, cacao dust, rich dark chocolate, etc...just some weak chocolate malts.
No yeast character, alcohol, hop notes, or off-notes are detectable.
Low intensity of flavour. Brief flavour duration.
It's not an intricate or complex build for a coffee stout by any means; in fact, this is amongst the most pedestrian attempts at the style I've come across in probably the past year. There's a bit of subtlety where the coffee is concerned, but I crave a rich roastiness or a rounded diverse full coffee character, which it doesn't provide.
To its credit, it leans towards the roasty bitter side rather than the sweet side of the stout spectrum, which I respect. Not a dessert stout by any means.
TEXTURE: Weak, watery, and light-bodied. Perfectly carbonated. Smooth and wet. Thin.
This texture can hardly support the flavour profile, and is a poor companion to the taste as a result. It needs to be fuller, softer, creamier, and more assertive.
Not oily, gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, or harsh.
OVERALL: The best thing I can say about it is that it does a damn good job of hiding its relatively high ABV. The coffee is disappointing, the chocolate is disappointing, and the (lack of) stout malt base is disappointing. I do like some of what's going on with the coffee (especially the roast), and the burnt character is lovely. But this just plain can't compete with good beers in the style - let alone world class ones. It brings very little to the table. You don't have to have big assertive flavours to make a good stout, but you do need impeccable balance and a good full presence on the palate.
As critical as I am of it, I'll enjoy finishing the bottle. It's certainly drinkable. Guadalupe Brewing continues to underwhelm, but I think it's more because they're green than anything else; I do think this is a sincere inspired attempt at the style. I'd love to see them dial it in. Certainly above average.
High C+
Coffee Chocolate Stout from Guadalupe Brewing Co.
Beer rating:
84 out of
100 with
18 ratings
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