Mocha Dolce
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

 

 

Solid nitro stout. Pours solid pitch black with a creamy tan head that lasts. The feel is smooth and creamy as per norm for nitro stouts. I definitely get notes of the roasted malts, a bit of chocolate, and a little bit of vanilla. The coffee seems a bit more subdued than the other adjuncts, however. Either way it's a solid nitro stout.

 

Mocha Dolce pours a coffee-like black with a large, long-lasting, lacing tan head. The aroma is filled with coffee, vanilla, and chocolate. The flavor is extremely creamy, with lots of chocolate and coffee. Good feel. Overall, a sweet big flavorful stout.

 

Pours opaque, jet black in color with one half inch head. Taste is hot cocoa and roasted malt with coconut sugar. Heavy body, low carbonation, sweet. A less imperial version of Southern Tier Hot Cocoa. Excellent flavor and exceptionally drinkable. Excellent dessert stout.

 

Can poured into a Firestone Walker Brewery pint glass

A: Pours cascading shades of brown, finally settling on a dark chocolate brown with a creamy tan head that settles to a firm layer and laves some light lacing.

S: Roasty, vanilla, chocolate, coffee, a bit earthy, and some toffee sweetness.

T: Roasty, coffee, chocolate slowly comes out to play, earthy, faint smoke, a little vanilla, a hint of dark fruit, and some toffee sweetness.

M: Full body, mild carbonation, creamy smooth.

O: Smooth is the name of the game. Not overly complex, I'd prefer the coffee to be a bit more assertive, but at 6% it's a nice Sunday morning sipper.

 

Look: Black-brown on the pour and my successful “surge” pour kicks off an awesome-looking nitro head that is tan and refuses to settle
Aroma: Dark chocolate, cinnamon, cold-brewed coffee, warm brown bread, brown sugar, light earthiness, and some sweetness
Taste: Follows the nose well beginning with layers of cinnamon-infused chocolate and coffee that intermingle well as bready malt follows closely behind. Brown sugar and earthiness appear throughout and closes with bread, cocoa, and coffee along with some sweetness
Mouthfeel: Full, silky smooth, medium carbonation, and lusciously smooth and soft on the finish
Overall: I dig it. For some [dumb] reason I have passed on this beer for years as I feared I may not be into it but boy was I wrong. A delicious mocha-inspired nitro stout that isn’t too “pastry-like” nor sweet and everything works well together in it. Add in the nitrogenated feel and this is a winner

L - Dark mocha brown with mahogany highlights with a light tan creamy head that sticks around - perfect nitro appearance
S - light coffee notes, mineral water (something I find nitro beers to smell like), some vanilla. Otherwise the smell is faint
T - roasted coffee, vanilla, and cocoa but I find the flavors to be somewhat muted and watery
F - light to medium bodied with light carbonation. Somewhat watery on the backend and somewhat flat - something I find plagues nitro beers
O - It might be that I find that I'm typically not a fan of nitro beers, but this is just ok to me

 

12oz can poured into a tulip

A- pours deep brown in color with a one-finger creamy light khaki head that has great retention

S- smells of earthy coffee, chocolate, light char, caramel, marshmallow and creamy vanilla

T- creamy milk chocolate and vanilla cream up front, followed by some light earthy coffee notes. Mid-palate gives more vanilla, along with light charred malt and caramel. The finish gives more chocolate and vanilla, that sticks around on the linger

M- medium body with a creamy mouthfeel that continues into a velvety finish, high drinkability

This stout is so smooth it's not even funny. Sweet but subtle, the look of dark black coffee with a head will mislead you as you sip and think to yourself that it's the perfect blend of latte/ beer, you'll think there's milk in it, in the best way. This stout is a gateway stout to beer dimensions yet unknown to mankind. The smell might be the best part.

 

 

 

 

On the bottom of the can there is a faint indication of what looks like a stamp in the aluminum: "092222 14:33"
The can also has special instructions for pouring, it says "INVERT CAN 3x" "POUR HARD STRAIGHT DOWN" "WAFT, ADMIRE, ENJOY!" so that is how I will be pouring.

Appearance: It has a black body with a short cascade of inverted bubbles. The head is medium-sized, light tan, and very dense. It has very good retention and a nice smooth milky foam lacing that slides off the glass when it is moved around. It looks great but the cascade is less than what is typical for a nitro beer.

Aroma: It has a light bit of a burnt cocoa aroma with a metallic scent.

Taste: Up front there is cocoa. Towards the middle of the palate there is a dark chocolate flavor with a hint of a very light hint of stone fruit which is a bit like dark cherry. Slightly earthy. It has a bit of a burnt wood flavor towards the back of the mouth with some bitter chocolate character. The aftertaste is dark chocolate with a very light hint of cherry.

Mouthfeel: The beer has a medium-full body with a smooth texture. It has more texture than a standard nitro beer but it also doesn't feel as smooth as a standard nitro beer. The carbonation feels good. There is a pleasant bitterness to the beer which gives it a bit of an edge.

Overall: The can states that this is a "COFFEE, VANILLA & COCOA NIB NITRO STOUT." When pouring the beer it didn't have any kind of hiss from a widget or dispenser, but the beer was poured as per the instructions on the can. It did deliver a creamy and dense head along with a cascade of bubbles, however the cascade was very short-lived. The body of the beer feels like it has more CO2 than a standard nitro beer, but the balance between CO2 and Nitrogen seems to work well. The cocoa nibs and overall chocolate flavor in the beer is good, but the coffee and vanilla seem to be missing as up-front flavors. The beer did have a bit of cherry character which was pleasant and that could have been a side-contribution from one of the ingredients. The beer as a whole is very drinkable and enjoyable but it doesn't really conjure images of mocha in the imagination. Although there are no cherries in this beer, it tastes more like a dark chocolate covered cherry.

I wouldn't recommend it for people looking for a mocha or coffee beer, but the beer is still good enough that I would recommend it to people looking for a stout with some dark chocolate flavor and a bit of an earthy edge. I could drink it again but it isn't one I would buy often.