Espresso Imperial Stout
White Birch Brewing

Flashback #137

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bomber via Glouglouburp- pours pitch black with thin mocha head. nose- dusty, powdered chocolate, burnt coffee. taste- acrid roast, stewed dark fruit and a gritty coffee rind like flavour. Not much body or malt sweetness to balance out the roast bitterness. cola like carbonation.

22 ounce bomber sampled from a small snifter. Bottles reads that this was bottled on April 16th, 2010, batch number one. Bottle 98 of 516.

Pours a jet black with about a half finger, tan-colored head. Carbonation is very strong, keeping a consistent head going.

Aroma gives off hints of brown sugar, molasses, cream, oak, vanilla, brewed coffee, tart cherries, and plums. The aroma is slightly dry, with that caramelized sugary sweet smell.

The first thing out of the flavor is smoke. Burnt wood comes to mind, along with some coffee notes, molasses, and dark dry chocolate. The flavor is somewhat winey, dry, and unbalanced.

The body here, and mouthfeel, is a bit lighter than one may expect from an imperial stout. The flavor is good, not great...and the body feels very watery and light, with not much linger.

Overall, this is a decent beer at best. I'm glad I got to try it, but I would like to taste some later batches to see if the mouthfeel and consistency evens out. Because of the dry smokiness of the beer, the other enjoyable qualities of the espresso and usual rich flavors of the imperial stout do not shine here. As it stands, this is drinkable, but not a standout in the style.

Batch One, 234/516.

Having trouble motivating to write this here review. Poured at 45 degrees into a snifter and let it warm a while. Dark black body, a small light tan creamy head. Retains okay, leaves very little lacing.

Actually smells pretty good, there's a nice nutty character that reminds me a little of brunch weasel. A big hit of espresso comes through too. Unfortunately the smell is a bit one dimensional, not too much in the way of caramel or chocolate or anything else.

I had low expectations for this beer coming in, which were temporarily heightened after I saw the look and the smell. Then I was let down by the flavor. If it tasted as it smelled, it would just be a nice big hit of espresso, which I do enjoy. Unfortunately, it's a big hit of acidic twang, like espresso when it's left to sit too long after being brewed before being incorporated into an espresso drink. There's also this kind of off rancid type of flavor, good thing that's not too present... There's a bit of roast that saves a little face to balance the acidity, but I'm not impressed.

It's hard to believe this is a 10% beer because I find it to be quite watery. I suppose the carbonation level is okay but I can't get past how thin it is.

It doesn't drink well. That acidity level and the off flavor I described make it a chore to get through the bomber. I can understand how someone might give it an okay score on just a few ounces, but until you try a bomber to yourself, it's pretty hard to judge. I think the way the coffee was incorporated into the beer was the main culprit for why this beer didn't turn out so well. Well, that and the fact that the malt backbone needed to be a lot better.

Had this as part of the infamous White Birch tasting at the Holistic Dramming Institute, thanks to Tim. Notes will probably be short since there were so many different beers to note, and drink.

Batch one, April 2010. This one was a lot lighter than expected, especially right after the 80+35=20. This one was actually bit of a disappointment.

Pours very dark black, with a dark rich 1/2 finger head.

Nose has fresh espresso and coffee beans, roasted malts, earthy hops, but seems light.

Taste is very light and thinner, fresh coffee and espresso beans, a little bit of chocolate and roasted malts, but not much. A bit of powdered cocoa, and not creamy at all. A bit of bitterness. Very light and thin, and the finish brings a bit of espresso and roast, but drops off somewhat quickly.

Mouth is lighter bodied, very thin, and watery, decent carbonation.

Drink is decent, being so thin and not very heavy, not very bitter either, and the booze is there but not heavy.

Received this brew as an extra from my main man out in Connecticut. I loves me a good coffee brew and this one looks tasty. Drank from my Darkness snifter.

Batch One
Bottle 152 of 516

Appearance- Pours a dark brownish black with a decent half finger khaki tan head that is foamy and lively. A decent collar remains along with no head a bit of random lacing.
Smell- Very intensely roasted nose with a dark coal like char that smells more of dark malt than coffee. A fair amount of dark chocolate shows along with a touch of caramel. The beer smells bone dry and chalky with just a touch of vanilla. I don't get much in the way of espresso in the nose.
Taste- Sure enough the beer starts very dry and almost quenching with an extremely roasted malt char. A black malt bite of bitterness is perceivable right away and does have a 'somewhat' coffee like profile. I don't get a very big espresso taste though and if the bottle didn't say Espresso on it, I wouldn't guess it had coffee in it. Somewhat astringent as the beer is literally just a dark charred coffee bean. Something lightly metallic as well in the finish.
Mouthfeel- Very light for the style and too thin with a very light tickle of carbonation.
Drinkability- Overall the beer falls a bit short as the coffee is pretty much hidden by the extreme roast of the malts. It just seems to be missing something. I'm thinking a bit less char, a touch of caramel malts and maybe the light sweetness and less bitterness makes the coffee stand out a bit more. Who knows? BUT, the 10% is hidden EXTREMELY well. Thanks very much Adam!

22oz bottle (batch 1, 4/16/2010, 114 of 516) poured into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass.

A - Pours a thick and opaque pitch black (no light peeks thru at all even when held to the light). A thick, milkshake-like frothy head sits on top of this for a long, long time and leaves foamy lacing behind on the glass.

S - Coffee up front with tons of dark fruits, a mild astringency and some alcohol. A small amount of dark roastd malt peaks thru, but it is really subtle.

T - The astringency in the nose also follows into the taste, could be from the espresso. Definitely has strong notes of black coffee. Very bitter...lots of burnt flavors in here.

M - A bit thin on feel, especially for style. Carbonation is light, but plenty enough...gives a smooth and slightly creamy feel...perhaps a bit fluffy due to the thin-ness of body.

D - Great transition on this Thanksgiving morning from coffee to beer as the turkey cooks. Very smooth and goes down very well. The 10% alcohol is not really noticeable at all. Dangerous!

Got this one from Jrae2424.... Thanks Jason for a fantastic trade.. Shared with the Boise peeps a while back. 74/516

Good 3/4" dark brown head... nice lacing.. okay retention.. the brew is the expected black.

Nose shows plenty of coffee... but it is a scolded diner coffee.. late night at applebees!!

Flavor is unfortunately not any better.. metallic .. roasty malts are nice with some minor chocolate.. but the char is a bit overwhelming... very metallic... copper.. pennies.. chocolate covered coffee beans is pretty present with warmth, but the metal is just too much.

Body is medium/lite.. carbonation is pretty high too...

Don't know what to think about this one.. The body screams "infection", but the flavors just say 'average coffee beer'.

Thanks Jason.. Awesome trade!!!

3.5/3.5/3/3.5/3

2010 bottle #226 of 516 thanks to Kelp.

Pours jet black with huge khaki colored head that lingers. Also some solid lacing.

Aroma is dominated by burnt diner coffee with only slight hints of dark chocolate.

Has a slight sweet chocolate flavor up front followed by a rough, acrid coffee finish lingers.

Medium body and a bit thinner than I expected but decent carb and a dry finish.

Overall, it gets better with a little warmth but it definitely took me a while to drink the whole bomber.

Pours a deep black with a tan to mocha head and some traces of lacing as it drops. Smell is strong espresso. Perhaps a bit too much as it is slightly harsh and covers up the less dominant hocolate and roasted malt characteristics hat hide underneath. Taste is more even keel and enjoyable. Feel is quite a bit too thin for such heavy flavors. All around, could certainly use some improvements, but is a fairly solid offering.

22 oz bottle poured into an imperial pint. Bottled April 16, 2010, Batch One, Bottle 408 of 516, 10.0% ABV.

Thanks to Rochefort10nh for this bottle!

A - Pours black as dirty, sludgy oil and just as viscious. A slow cascading leads to a dense and creamy dark tan, three-finger head with moderate retention and good, chunky lace.

S - Creamy and rich chocolate fills the aroma and is flanked nicely by mild roasted coffee. A touch of the acrid bitter black patent malts come through but its generally sweet smelling. No hop presence. Not a lot of coffee. It's heavy on the chocolate though and it nails that well.

T - Chocolate isn't milky-smooth as the aroma would have you believe. Instead it's a bitter chocolate with dry cocoa and rich espresso flavor. No hops again.

M - Much lighter-bodied than I expected it to be, it lands around medium-bodied and feels a little thin with a dry and bitter finish. Leaves much more to be desired here.

D - Decent offering but it seems a little disjointed between the aroma and the flavor as well as the thin mouthfeel. Still though, it's not a bad brew, it could just use some tweaking.