Café Royale | AleWerks Brewing Company
Brewed by:
AleWerks Brewing Company
Virginia, United States
alewerks.com
Style: Milk / Sweet Stout
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 8.00%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
We age a stronger version of our CoffeeHouse Stout in Virginia Gentlemen Bourbon Barrels for 3 months. This aging adds layers of complexity including notes of vanilla and bourbon to this big coffee beer.
Added by mcallister on 08-21-2010
View: Beers | Place Reviews | Events
Ratings: 743 | Reviews: 182
4.54/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
3.99/5 rDev -5.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Acquired from mtanoury74 so a big “Thank You” goes out to him. Poured from a 22oz bottle into an imperial pint glass.
A: The beer is a deep dark brown color with a short brown head that fades quickly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.
S: The aroma contains coffee, bourbon, chocolate, roasted malts, some lactose and a faint touch of hops.
T: The taste starts out sweet and creamy with flavors of coffee, milk chocolate, lactose and some licorice. Then a hearty roasted malt character comes in. The hops presence is very mild as you would expect but complementary and brings a good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.
M: Smooth and a little crisp, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is dry and slightly sticky.
O: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, good kick, decent representation of style, this is a solid stout to drink for a while.
866 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Acquired from mtanoury74 so a big “Thank You” goes out to him. Poured from a 22oz bottle into an imperial pint glass.
A: The beer is a deep dark brown color with a short brown head that fades quickly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.
S: The aroma contains coffee, bourbon, chocolate, roasted malts, some lactose and a faint touch of hops.
T: The taste starts out sweet and creamy with flavors of coffee, milk chocolate, lactose and some licorice. Then a hearty roasted malt character comes in. The hops presence is very mild as you would expect but complementary and brings a good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.
M: Smooth and a little crisp, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is dry and slightly sticky.
O: Tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, good kick, decent representation of style, this is a solid stout to drink for a while.
866 characters
4.25/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3.75/5 rDev -11.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.31/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Props to Alewerks!
18 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Props to Alewerks!
18 characters
4.38/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
3.49/5 rDev -17.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Look: Deep brown with a healthy carmel brown halo.
Smell: sweet, coffee, bourbon
Taste: Bourbon and coffee, well balanced
Feel: medium feel, smooth with a carmel flavor
Overall: Originally in bottle, I drank from a tulip glass. I experience a smooth, well balanced bourbon and coffee flavor.
293 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Look: Deep brown with a healthy carmel brown halo.
Smell: sweet, coffee, bourbon
Taste: Bourbon and coffee, well balanced
Feel: medium feel, smooth with a carmel flavor
Overall: Originally in bottle, I drank from a tulip glass. I experience a smooth, well balanced bourbon and coffee flavor.
293 characters
3.75/5 rDev -11.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.4/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.1/5 rDev -3.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured into a snifter. Inky, viscous black color that produced a modest and fleeting tan head. Whiskey, coffee, and cocoa on the nose. A touch of sour cherries. Smooth aroma with the bourbon up front. Chocolatey taste at first which opened to coffee and finally a warming, slightly tart whiskey flavor. Some milk up front as well. Nice vanilla and oaky notes on the path to a warming finish. A slightly sticky, sweet quality but definitely not cloying. Drinks "bigger" than the 8.4% ABV, which is nice but also a slight knock. Overall a great sipper.
550 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured into a snifter. Inky, viscous black color that produced a modest and fleeting tan head. Whiskey, coffee, and cocoa on the nose. A touch of sour cherries. Smooth aroma with the bourbon up front. Chocolatey taste at first which opened to coffee and finally a warming, slightly tart whiskey flavor. Some milk up front as well. Nice vanilla and oaky notes on the path to a warming finish. A slightly sticky, sweet quality but definitely not cloying. Drinks "bigger" than the 8.4% ABV, which is nice but also a slight knock. Overall a great sipper.
550 characters
3.66/5 rDev -13.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.99/5 rDev -5.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
03/25/2017
10 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
03/25/2017
10 characters
4.25/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.42/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.27/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
I'll call it "pitch brown" for a touch off black in the color. But opaque. A little sweeter than I would have hoped for, but otherwise very rich and deep in flavor. I appreciated the smell more than anything, which is rare for me. There was booze and plenty of lactose milk stout sugar. And a touch of black licorice in smell and taste that gave it spiciness. A worthwhile pour in my book. Not any head to speak of, even on the pour, but still a tinge of carbonation in the mouthfeel--not as creamy as some milk stouts, but still smooth around the edges.
554 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
I'll call it "pitch brown" for a touch off black in the color. But opaque. A little sweeter than I would have hoped for, but otherwise very rich and deep in flavor. I appreciated the smell more than anything, which is rare for me. There was booze and plenty of lactose milk stout sugar. And a touch of black licorice in smell and taste that gave it spiciness. A worthwhile pour in my book. Not any head to speak of, even on the pour, but still a tinge of carbonation in the mouthfeel--not as creamy as some milk stouts, but still smooth around the edges.
554 characters
4.34/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.28/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a shiny black color. So shiny that you can see your reflection in the beer itself. Fizzy soda like brown head dissipates quickly leaving a thin ring of brown foam along the outside of the beer.
Smell has prominent notes of coffee, milk chocolate, roasted malts, some musty oak and a touch of bourbon, but not too much.
Taste has notes of coffee, milk chocolate, and malts up front. The malts are curious because there is a roast character to them, but they taste more like they were smoked providing a bit of a smoky flavor to the beer that is quite nice. Some smoked wood comes through - almost like BBQ smoking wood chips. Remarkably strong bourbon flavor for a beer that was only aged 3 months provides an overarching bourbon flavor and some permeating heat. It might be a milk stout base, but there is not much sweetness here other than that milk chocolate like flavor. The smoke and bourbon cuts down on being overly sweet.
Feel is smooth and medium bodied. Mild to medium carbonation, but prickly and lively. Sweet finish with some alcohol burn.
Overall I really like the smoky character coming through from this one - added some depth to the beer. Im also impressed with how prominent the barrel was for only being in there 3 months - just goes to show that you can do a well done BA stout without needing to leave it in the barrel forever.
1,360 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a shiny black color. So shiny that you can see your reflection in the beer itself. Fizzy soda like brown head dissipates quickly leaving a thin ring of brown foam along the outside of the beer.
Smell has prominent notes of coffee, milk chocolate, roasted malts, some musty oak and a touch of bourbon, but not too much.
Taste has notes of coffee, milk chocolate, and malts up front. The malts are curious because there is a roast character to them, but they taste more like they were smoked providing a bit of a smoky flavor to the beer that is quite nice. Some smoked wood comes through - almost like BBQ smoking wood chips. Remarkably strong bourbon flavor for a beer that was only aged 3 months provides an overarching bourbon flavor and some permeating heat. It might be a milk stout base, but there is not much sweetness here other than that milk chocolate like flavor. The smoke and bourbon cuts down on being overly sweet.
Feel is smooth and medium bodied. Mild to medium carbonation, but prickly and lively. Sweet finish with some alcohol burn.
Overall I really like the smoky character coming through from this one - added some depth to the beer. Im also impressed with how prominent the barrel was for only being in there 3 months - just goes to show that you can do a well done BA stout without needing to leave it in the barrel forever.
1,360 characters
Café Royale from AleWerks Brewing Company
4.24
out of 5
based on 743 ratings.
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25