Alchemy
Martin City Brewing Company

 

 

Appearance: Arrives coal colored with a thick beige head; squiggles of lacing action

Smell: Ashy with coffee tones; Baker’s chocolate envelopes

Taste: A lot of roast, up front, with chocolate and coffee developing; ashy and dry, through the middle and into the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: Interesting recipe; surprisingly dry and ashy and that masks some of th coffee flavor

 

 

 

 

 

 

nice one here from martin city, using a heavy dose of a quality local coffee to add to a hearty but drinkable dry stout, really well done and honestly up there with the best beers i have had from these guys, on tap at the new hopcat in westport. creamy headed and matte dark chocolate brown, dense looking but not as black as some. the coffee in the nose is fresh brewed, super earthy and dark, almost deeper and more robust than the dark malts in the base stout, which is unique and awesome. chocolate notes here, warming roast, my nose loves this! the flavor is nice too, i think the coffee is less intense there, but the balance with the roasted barley and the chocolate malt is great, and its quite bitter. a lot of these try to add too much caramel type malts in the middle to balance an expected coffee and dark grain bitter finish, and this does not, its nice to have it actually be bitter. some mild sweet chocolate notes, but this is not malty sweet to me at all. there is also almost no acidity at all from the coffee either, it stays round and smooth to drink, never astringent or thinning. not quite creamy, but full. i didnt get a huge caffeine pop from this, but maybe a little boost. i love having one of these so drinkable and well done. it has me itching to try the alchemy coffee on its own. way ahead of the coffee stout curve here!

 

 

 

Poured out a jet-black color with a one finger, head of foam. It smelled of bold coffee aromas. It tasted of coffee, chocolate and roasted malt. A medium bodied ale.

Can poured into a glass

Dark brown liquid with pencil thin brown foam cap. Settles to layer of brown bubbles with good lacings

Aroma of roast malts and coffee

Taste of coffee over roast malts, fresh roasted coffee taste dominates

Slightly bitter coffee taste, low sudsing, slight bitter taste lingers

Nice beer

 

Poured from a 12 oz can into a tulip glass. L: black deep tan head, decent lacing. S: coffee roast, good malty aroma shines through. Vanilla / toasted caramel T: true stout, then coffee. Dark roast. F: smooth, but thinner than the look would indicate. O: very good. Bordering on outstanding.