Cocoa Puff Stout
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.