Sump Coffee Stout - Costa Rica Las Lajas (2018)
Perennial Artisan Ales

 

750 ml bottle into snifter, bottled in 12/2017. Pours dense/oily pitch black color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy dark tan head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, cherry, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Minimal booze in the aromas as it warms. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/black/bready malts, coffee, and light fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with big strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, cherry, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Mild herbal, grassy, peppery, roast, char, coffee bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, dark bread/crust, vanilla, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/black/bready malts, coffee, and light fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great roast/hop/coffee bitter/sweet balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/char/coffee bitterness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety/bready, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mild increasing warmth of 10.6% after the finish. Overall this is an amazing imperial coffee stout! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/black/bready malts, coffee, and light fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV, with the mildly bitter/sticky/chalky/drying finish; amazingly soft feel for the ABV. Amazing balanced super rich malts and fruity/nutty coffee complexity; with mild earthy hops and restrained fruity yeast. Not overly sweet/heavy from lingering dryness. A highly amazing offering, and top tier style example as expected. Very similar to FBS, but thicker and less bitter/hoppy from the bigger ABV.

 

 

 

 

 

Just cant say how UN ready I was for this Bomber ....WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Thick creamy caramel head, black and thick body. Smells of coffee and chocolate, tastes smooth coffee and a bit of barrel notes. Goes down with some bubbles but mostly smooth.

 

 

 

The beer pours a nice and creamy brown head that looks like the kind you would get with coffee. The beer itself is a delicious dark black with a coffee brown hue. The texture has a nice sheen but looks like it still has a body to it.

The smell is good. The beer has a nice and sharp roasted coffee smell that cuts right through the more nebulous pecan and chocolate but has some fairly light barrel notes. The barrel notes are mainly vanilla with a bit of alcohol to it.

The taste is fantastic. It has a much more balanced taste with more intense notes. The coffee shines much stronger than in the smell with a good acidic and bitter pecan note. The vanilla is also a bit stronger along with a noticeable maple accent.

The feel is great. It has a heavy body but with a slightly thin texture and creamy feel to it. The finish is extremely dry.

Overall, another fantastic version of a pretty good beer and one worth getting. The different coffee variants each year always make this one worth coming back to.