Coffee Cold Smoke
KettleHouse Brewing Co. (Southside Taproom)

Pours an effervescent chestnut with a thumb+ of tan head. Average-ish head retention & lacing

S: Tons of coffee, vanilla & not much else

T: Plenty of coffee, dryness, vanilla notes, some smokeyness in the background. Sweet coffee & dryness as this beer warms up, more vanilla. Finishes a little sweet with plenty of coffee, think mocha & dryness, just a little Scotch Ale fighting through

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation

Plenty of good coffee flavor just a little too far off style for me to completely embrace, easy enough to drink though

16oz tallboy can purchased at Bottles, in Millwood, WA, for $3.49. Canned on November 13, 2024, per the stamp on the upper rim of the can.

Poured into a Kane snifter, this was a dark brown, with a creamy looking khaki colored head. Said head dropped fairly quickly, but didn't fully go away.

Smells like a Wee Heavy that is wearing a roasty, coffeeish shroud. Toffee notes mix with a supporting coffee aroma.

Much like the nose, the taste resembles a Wee Heavy first, but with supporting coffee notes. I rather like the fact that the coffee seems to have been added with a subtle touch. So many coffee beers, whatever the style, are just massive coffee bombs. This one, the coffee complements rather than dominates.

Somewhat thin mouth feel, but not to the point of being a deal breaker.

Bought it because I'm always drawn to coffee beers, but was pleasantly surprised at how well the coffee worked with the Wee Heavy style. I'd definitely hit this again.

Sampling a 16 oz can at cellar temp and poured into my trusty snifter. Can is date stamped 1/7/2025.
The beer pours a rich mahogany color with some garnet highlights on the edges of the glass when held to a light source.
A dense creamy linen white head foams up almost 3 cm. this foam slowly fades to a sturdy surface covering that remains throughout the sampling.
Aroma on this beer is some coffee beans and hints of toffee and roasted malts, but not a whole lot else. No hop character and coffee beans definitely dominate. Never any hint of the booze.
First sip reveals a medium body with very fine carbonation and smooth texture. the beer drinks pretty easy on the physical traits.
Flavor is again a little toffee and roast malt and then coffee beans carry through again. No hop character here either.
This beer is tasty and I enjoy it, its not very complex but is pretty suitable towards the style. Glad to have tried this one.

Acquired a 16 oz can courtesy of @muchloveforhops3 2-16-24, thanks Doug! Canned 11-21-23; consumed 6-7-24.

Beer poured brown with a pretty good off-white head with the original pour.

Nose is a nice combination of toasted malts and cold coffee.

Taste is very good as the toasted malt base combines nicely with the coffee addition to give a caramel coffee flavor. Hopping is adequate and along with the coffee keeps the sweetness in the background.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and pretty smooth.

Overall love the flavor and combined with a nice abv level makes for one of those beers where 2 in a session would not overwhelming.

Loved this one for what it is, lightly smoky and malty, sweet bready malts, some dark fruit, nuttiness...tobacco...unsweetened cocoa...smooth malty complexity, light coffee notes throughout the nose and palate, creamy. Its a very cohesive brew, where neither smoke nor coffee dominate. Recommended.

Canned on: 11-21-23
Many thx to muchloveforhops3 for this can!

A - Deep amber pour that looks more dark brown than anything, lacing is toffee colored and quite creamy.

S - A slight bit of toffee malt that gets crushed by a wall of roasty coffee beans.

T - Some toasted caramel malt is buried down under that quickly gets overtaken by coffee roast with a little bit of smokey roast and finishes balanced.

M - Medium body that's a little thin around the edges.

O - A nice easy drinking beer.

Coffee Cold Smoke – from KettleHouse Brewing. Received from @snaotheus in a ninja strike during BSBIF#1. Reviewed 30/01/24 (Review 3235). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on top rim of the 16 fl oz can “Canned on 11/21/23”. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 53.4 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 58.1 degrees F.
Appearance – 3.75
First pour – Pale Amber (SRM 9), clear.
Body – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, the body is ruby and transparent – makes my flashlight look like a single red eye glaring through a ruby cloud.
Head - Average (Maximum six cm, aggressive center pour), beige, high density with a few rocks, short retention, leaving a 0.7 – 1.2 cm uneven crown, and a rocky, complete cap.
Lacing – Poor. Just a thin bit of lacing, quickly degenerating into a Kymer-like script.
Aroma – 3 – Coffee. No yeast, no hops, no malt, no alcohol (6.5 % ABV as marked on the label).
Flavor – 3.25 – Begins as weak coffee with a hint of bitterness. No yeast, no hops, no toffee/caramel/butterscotch notes. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. No smoke. No ethanol. No gastric warming.
Palate – 3.25 – Thin; watery; lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 Tastes like a weak coffee drink with a twist-off cap, lacking any semblance of a Scotch ale/wee heavy. One and done. Thanks, Ryan, for the opportunity to try this one.

Pours a dark brown color with a bubbly tan head. Smells of dark roasted grain and coffee. Taste is also a coffee flavor, not much of the butter scotch flavor. A good brew, but I made it more of a coffee porter or stout.

 

 

its cool they made this. i have long thought about this iconic scotch ale being done up with coffee, its a perfect marriage, and they have really dialed it in, this is exactly what i wanted it to be. the coffee is warming and wintery in the nose on top of the rich and familiar malt base, it has notes of milk chocolate and light roasted nuttiness from the coffee, and it doesnt seem bitter or overdone at all, the base beer is still very recognizable in the smell. the coffee is also seamlessly integrated into the flavor, where the layers of dark fruit from the malt base are interwoven well with the cocoa character of the coffee, its balanced and nice, and seems a little less sweet than the original, which makes it pretty drinkable to me for what it is. hints of almond, toffee, chestnut, brown sugar, and light smoke all combine well, and this is full bodied and smooth going down, with just a little yeast character there with the coffee on the recall after the swallow. this is perfect colder weather beer, and its been a long time coming in my mind. im so glad this exists, and that they got it so right. the coffee adds a lot without taking away from the base beer. really tasty!

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a deep brown-copper color with a one finger head of tan foam. The head fades super fast leaving just a trace of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is mainly of a toasted malt smell mixed with a bit of grain and some moderately strong caramel and corny smells. Along with these aromas comes just a touch of coffee and dark fruit.
Taste – I am not getting much coffee hear at all. This tastes just like a regular cold smoke to me. The taste begins with a sweet malty taste with a good showing of caramel, brown sugar and toffee. There is also a little bit of dark fruit which increases as the taste advances. Some light coffee flavors develop at the end (very light for a coffee brew) as well as a little bit of smoke and char. These tastes take the taste to the end, leaving one with a sweet and sorta smooth, but not very coffee like, scotch ale flavor to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel- The body of the beer is on the rather thicker and creamier side with a carbonation level that is on the slightly lower side. For the roasted, sweet, and light smoke flavors of the brew the feel is fantastic making for a great slow sipper all while nicely highlighting all the nice flavors.
Overall – It’s a nice brew overall, but the coffee tastes are really lacking. They have to ramp it up a bit to make it more different from the regular version of the brew.

From a 16oz can to a dimpled mug, less than 2 months old; deep brown, opaque body with small white head.

Flavors are musky; dark roast coffee, a good measure of sweet malts, bready malts, and then some piney hops. Overall flavors are black coffee with caramel and some lemon. Light carbonation.

It's ok, better than regular cold smoke but not out of this world.