Cocoa Puff Stout
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company

L= Deep, dark and chocolatey look. under-carbonated, very little head.
S= This has deep, sugary chocolate/ cocoa notes. Nothing else stands out, and nothing else needed. Enticing!
T= Again , sweet, chocolate cocoa, and now a bit of the stout on the undertones, woodsy and smoky.
F= Decent mouthfeel, a bit oily, but true to the style of a chocolatey stout.
O= An exceptionally tasty brew, for a 5.0 ABV. No idea of the true cost or availability, as I had bought a locally canned pint from a local retailer who promotes the cause by featuring small breweries in this manner. Great one shot, would purchase if we ever crossed paths again.

 

 

 

 

32 oz. growler poured into a snifter.

Appearance - Almost black. Big khaki head. Slight transparency. Wispy surface lasts a while.

Smell - Chocolatey. Very chocolatey. Cereal grainy malt.

Taste - Cocoa powder. Bitter but strong chocolate flavor. Cereal grain flavor.

Mouthfeel - Medium body and well carbonated. A little astringent.

Overall - Nowhere near as impressive as the Blueberry Pancake beer. I get all the components, but it just doesn't pull together as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special release from the Kuhnhenn brewery as a part of their "Breakfast of Champions" St. Patrick's Day party. Cocoa Puff Stout pours a dark-ass brown color, very nearly black, with a foamy, tan head that recedes quickly to a skin atop the dark brew.

As anyone would expect, the aroma is packed with chocolate; milky, creamy, and sweet chocolates, very low roast on the nose. Lots of cocoa powder, too. The sweet, malty background plays an elegant role and adds a bit more sweetness. Eventually, I start picking up a VERY light roasty aroma, though sweetness still reigns supreme. I think I might be picking up a very mellow hop character in this one, too, though it's hard to be 100% sure. Mild leafiness, but I don't feel too strongly about that. There's also a very faint astringency on the tail end that kind of tingles the nostrils if you dig 'em in the beer and take a big enough whiff.

Go pour some 1% lowfat milk over a bowl full of Cocoa Puffs, and let it sit on your table for about an hour. Then go in and run the contents through a sieve, catching everything that drains out of the bottom. That's pretty much what Kuhnhenn did here... I kid, I kid. But really, the flavor is packed with sweet chocolates; big-time milky cocoa with a very light roast. Cocoa powder everywhere, all over everything - reminds me of crushed up Cocoa Puffs. This beer is sweet, up and down, and I'm not getting any hops in the flavor like I was a little bit in the aroma, but that mild astringency shows up for a split second before being buried forever. Very light nuttiness in the aftertaste, right alongside a milky, sweet, sugary, chocolatey concoction - again, much like the used milk from a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. The body was also a bit thicker and more robust than I'm making it sound. Medium carbonation.

Out of the four breakfast specialty beers I enjoyed at Kuhnhenn on St. Patrick's Day, this was probably my second favorite (nothing could top the Lucky Charms Lager). Nice chocolate forward stout with a nice balance of sweetness and milkiness.