Melipona - Barrel Aged
Old Schoolhouse Brewery

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a one finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, coffee, vanilla and mild bourbon. Flavor is dark toasted malt, drip coffee, cocoa, light cinnamon and vanilla and a hint of bourbon. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. I was educated by this stout; from the design and barrel with "melipona" on the top in the can design, I thought I was picking up a honey stout. Turns out that Melipona is the genus of bees that pollinate Mexican vanilla (it's actually a coffee and vanilla stout). That's fine too. The stout is quite coffee forward, with the latter being the dominate flavor, although vanilla and cinnamon are present too in the background. The bourbon barrel character is fairly subdued. Fortunately, as a coffee stout it's quite nice although a little more vanilla would have been welcomed. The mouth feel is creamy at first, but thins out into the finish. A mild sweetness, but a dry coffee finish. Nice breakfast stout.