Barista Coffee Lager
Wolverine State Brewing Company

 

 

 

Shimmering clear yet dark reddish-brown with a thin tan ring.

Taste is cacao and earthy ground coffee with accents of vanilla whip and light lager elements via the medium round body finishing semi-wet.

 

An interesting one. The coffee adds nice flavors to the shwarzbier framework, especially in the aroma. Flavor is a tad lactic, which surprised me. Almost spitting image of the New Glarus sour-ish porter several years back. I like this beer a lot, but it doesn’t seem true to style, which is the reason for lower rating. Strongly recommended. Shwarzbier? Not so much.

 

 

Hmmm. Not good. I don’t know if I got a bad batch or what - this bottle was dated 6/20/18 - but the taste was just unpleasant. Started off good - nice dark brown color, a little tan head and some very minimal lacing. Smells of dark roast coffee and some milk chocolate. I then expected the taste to follow the nose, but man was this disappointing. Sour, acidic, tart stale coffee notes with minimal else discernible - maybe a little light chocolate and caramel. Trace hint of malt. Almost a puckering aftertaste and no real mouthfeel. Good carbonation. I’m really hoping this was just from a bad batch.

 

Swanky taste. Great disappointment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 5/22/2017. Pours crystal clear deep reddish brown color with a 1-2 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big nutty dark roasted coffee, chocolate, cocoa, brown sugar, toasted brown bread, light herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of coffee, roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big nutty dark roasted coffee, chocolate, cocoa, brown sugar, toasted brown bread, light herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal hop and roasted coffee bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of nutty dark roasted coffee, chocolate, cocoa, brown sugar, toasted brown bread, light herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of coffee, roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Minimal dryness from hop/roast bitterness. Very clean on lager flavors, with zero yeast notes present. Light-medium carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, fairly creamy/silky, and slightly chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 6.5%. Overall this is a great coffee lager! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of coffee, roast/bready malt, and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mildly bitter finish. Awesome vibrant coffee complexity, with great malt balance. Feels kind of midway between a Vienna Lager and Schwarzbier on style. A very enjoyable offering.