Grind Core Espresso Milk Stout
Surly Brewing Co.

 

 

I got a can of this beer off the single shelf from the Woodman's in Onalaska, Wisconsin just outside of La Crosse. It poured an opaque dark with thin ecru ring head that is leaving some lace. The scent had bold coffee flare. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with espresso presence. The mouthfeel was medium in body and had good carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer.

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Pours a nearly complete black color with a massive, heavy, and pillowy dark tan head. SRM of 23-24. (4.25)

Aroma: Intense coffee upfront. Not only coffee roast, but also has some smooth coffee in the aroma too, which balances the bitterness. There is a moderately strong roast presence thought before hints of cocoa and cream present underneath. Mostly coffee though. (3.75)

Flavor: The flavors follows the nose with coffee upfront. It has a smooth coffee flavor initially. This doesn't last long before it devolves into a complete and bitter coffee roast flavor. It becomes sandy in the middle from the coffee roast. There is some cream so save it, but not before complete sandy, coffee roast takes over. (3.25)

Feel: Medium to light bodied. Moderate carbonation. Finishes sandy and roasty on the palate. (3.25)

Overall: I was forewarned about this beer. Agree with some other reviewers that it has a beautiful appearance, a decent aroma, and terrible flavor. Feels like drinking coffee grounds in your latte. The lactose/cream tries to revive it, but this one was burnt, roasted, and sandy on the tongue long before the malts could come to the rescue. I've had worse coffee stouts, but this one is not good. I don't understand how folks go for the coffee-style beers. (Final Rating: 3.43)

12oz can with a date of 11/16/20.
I had this beer on-tap once before and I was not very impressed but I bought the mix pack to give it another go. Maybe I was expecting Surly Four which is on the best beers Surly ever brewed, this is not even in the same area code. But it has decent coffee aroma, not good in flavor, with a decent body. It is an underwhelming beer with not enough milk stout base. I also don't lowering the ABV helped either. Drinkers of shitty coffee will probably love this beer. The coffee tastes like stale coffee that has been reheated.

12oz can from the variety pack

Dark brown, pretty much black. Smells like the coffee grounds at the very bottom of your trash can (the grounds there underneath the eggshell and week-old lasagna). Tastes like the remnants of burnt coffee grounds, scraped off the side of a cowboy's cast-iron skillet with a rusty knife, placed into a teabag, and infused into a glass of stale beer (like a trader joe's stout). Some chocolate and the bitter presence of hops round (square) out the flavor. Overly carbonated, but still smooth on the tongue, somehow

One-note, and that note is the brown-note

 

 

12 fl oz pull-tab can:

"Stout brewed with espresso and lactose." 5.3% ABV.

Opaque black body with a frothy khaki-hued head that lasts ~8-10 minutes.

AROMA: Lactose sugar sweetness, dark malts, specialty chocolate malt, coffee-redolent roast. Definitely nails a coffee bean/Java aroma, but I can't say I'd readily identify it as espresso specifically (over say, "ordinary" coffee) in a blind taste test. Aromatic intensity is average.

Seems like it could be roastier and more coffee-emphatic to better effect, and I'm not sure the milk sugar sweetness is needed judging by the aroma.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Creamy and soft, which helps cushion the beer's more aggressive coffee bitterness. Bites with espresso bean bitterness but the beer is mellowed out by the milk sugar. Adequately roasty, but there's room for more roasted barley still, and I think this could handle an even more aggressive coffee flavour.

The coffee that's present is nice enough, but pales in comparison to the pungency and diversity of the coffee flavour in a beer like, say, Founders' Breakfast Stout.

Perfectly carbonated. Smooth, wet, unrefreshing. Medium to full-bodied.

Very well balanced, offering sufficient bitterness mid-palate and closing on a creamy chocolatey sweetness to good effect.

OVERALL: It's not terribly complex inasmuch as milk stouts go, and its coffee character as aforementioned doesn't rival that found in the best coffee stouts, but it's a balanced likable brew given its premise and I'd say it compares favorably to Left Hand's Milk Stout or Lakewood's The Temptress.

More solid work from Surly.

High B- (3.49) / WORTHY

MALTY COFFEE MILK STOUT - CREAMY TO DRINK - Vvery enjoyable

 

Aroma is coffee and dark/roasted malts and a hint of chocolate. The flavor is coffee, a hint of chilies, dark/roasted malts and an acidic/slight chocolate finish.

 

12oz can. Stamped canning date of '08/14/20'. Fall seasonal.
Black colored body, with a red walnut back lit edge. Two fingers of mocha brown head upon pouring, settle back to creamy cap. Leaves hanging residue of lacing.
Big espresso aroma, with milk chocolate roasted malts.
Taste is huge with espresso, with the later section of the flavors being coffee drenched sweet chocolate malt. Not really bitter, but intense.
Thinner mouth feel, with a smooth creamy texture. Good carbonation.
Like a slightly sweet, deep espresso coffee bomb. Easy to drink, but must like the espresso.