High West-ified Cafe Con Leche
Lagunitas Brewing Company

a fantastic variant of this impressive base barrel aged stout, as good for what it isnt as for what it is. sure there is some lactose and vanilla in here, but its not a new wave dessert beer, nothing is forced or overdone, in fact, both of these elements are quite subtle, and seem in place more to highlight the coffee than anything else. i have remarked before that the coffee in original high westified is pretty mellow, its roasted barley before its big java, part of why its aged so well i reckon, but the coffee seems kicked up a little bit in this one, both in the warming aromatic and in the deeply earthy and bitter base. the beer seems well suited to handle it though, the oak smooths over any coffee acidity, and the light milk sugar aspect balances the bitterness well, this is robustly flavored overall but i would not call any aspect of it aggressive, its too cohesive and fluid for that. i get the rye barrel character, nice depth to the mix from that, but also a little whiskey sweetness running through it, both play up the natural vanilla aspect, but even with that its not too much. bigtime dark chocolate and fudge elements to this, light smoke, raisin, very little middle malt richness so it finishes pretty quick, even with the milk sugar, barrel char and sturdy oak there too, real complex and soft in feel. better carbonation than a lot of these have, great coffee linger, and lots of barrel. as good as the original, tastefully proportioned on the extras, delicious!