White Label Coffee Stout Bruichladdich BA
Brouwerij Emelisse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got this one from the Duvel guy.

From a bottle into a snifter
EBC: 120
EBU: 71
23*P
Best before December 2020
Lot A

APPEARANCE: Pours out clear brown and yields a two finger, medium looking, creamy, light tan head with great retention. Head slowly fades to a full wisp and leaves lots of lacing on the glass. Black body with no real carbonation evident. A splotchy wisp remains with good lacing.

SMELL: Espresso, raw coffee beans, roasted notes, earthy tones, cacao and oak on the nose. Pretty complex.

TASTE: Oak, peat and earthy flavors meld with raw coffee beans up front. Big finish with more raw beans, cacao, peaty and earthy notes, oak, and plenty of bitterness and coffee flavors linger long after the swallow. Very raw and coffee forward with the barrel playing a very minor role in the back.

PALATE: Medium body and medium levels of carbonation. Semi-creamy on the palate, goes down fine and finishes a touch dry. Some heat and bitterness lingers.

OVERALL: This is alright, but it's a little too raw for my liking. Very coffee bean heavy and the level of complexity in the nose didn't quite transfer to the flavor. A little more barrel character and less of an overall coffee slap would work a little better here. Okay, but one of the rare misses in the white label family for me.

Smooth and thick pour, pitch black. Soft, creamy head, creamy white, about two fingers tall, that lasts for a few minutes before giving way to a thin lacing that covers the glass walls. Smells of coffee and roasted malts, but also almonds and dark cherries, and somewhere hovering behind all this is a feint aroma of whiskey. The alcohol is also present in the smell. It has a pleasant taste, quite balanced, with bitterness, sweetness and a bit of sourness. One can taste coffee, sour cherries, cocoa, chocolate and whiskey. Creamy mouthfeel, with soft carbonation and a pinch of spiciness from the alcohol, right at the end. Good stuff!