Giant Cinnamon Latte Stout
Free Will Brewing Co.

 

16oz can purchased from GIANT as a 4-pack for $11.99. No canned on date, but this has to be pretty fresh because it was just recently released.

Look: Pours a very dark brown color. Looks almost black in the glass. The tan-colored head almost completely dissipated, leaving just a thin rim around the edge of the glass. The small-bubbled head regenerates nicely after swirling before it slowly fades away. When I poured the rest of the can into my swifter, I achieved a huge, fluffy tan-colored head that helped to earn the latte part of the name.

Smell: As advertised, nice aromas of coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla. This has a bit of a holiday-spice vibe to it. There may be a mild hop aroma that I am picking up on the finish; it smells a bit minty and licoricey and reminiscent of root beer.

Taste: This is pretty tasty. At 6.6% ABV, it comes in as a big, bold stout with nice flavors of coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla. Despite having the name latte in the name, it's not particularly sweet and there is no lactose here. Of all the adjuncts, I would say that the vanilla is the most difficult to detect. This beer is giving me a bit of root beer vibes in a weird way, perhaps from the carbonation and mouthfeel and also because it is cold. I guess that the combination of flavors of coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla have a lot in common with the notes in root beer. I think that this beer would benefit from being consumed a bit colder than room temperature. The finish is dry with nice roasted malt notes and a pleasant, lingering bitterness from the coffee.

Feel: The body is a bit thin, perhaps it would improve if given more time to warm up out of the fridge. Low side of medium bodied. It's nicely carbonated.

Overall: This is a tasty coffee stout, albeit lacking in complexity. Free Will knows what they're doing when it comes to brewing stouts and utilizing coffee in beer.

Brewed for and sold only at GIANT Food Stores
From the can:
This stout was brewed with loads of oats for a full bodied drinking experience, as well as freshly roasted coffee beans which swirl in perfect harmony with smooth vanilla and dashes of cinnamon.

It's very dark, but bright and a shade less dark than black coffee brown. It's opaque, but not dense. As the contents of a pint can were emptied into a clear glass Imperial pint mug, not much of a head was produced. Interestingly, there's almost as much smell of roasted malt as there is roasted coffee, with the vanilla and cinnamon in the background. That's the way it drinks. This is not some cinnamon pastry desert beer. This is a very roasted malt stout, with well roasted black coffee contributions to taste. The cinnamon and vanilla are vaguely there, but do little or nothing to sweeten it. This is enjoyably bitter, so that’s not a problem. What is, is the expectation of something smoother, sweeter and creamier because of its label. Accepting this just for how it drinks, it's good, almost commendable. But, drink this expecting a desert beer and disappointment will quickly follow.

Purchased at Giant Foods, Souderton, PA. $11.99-4pk/16oz cans

Pours a deep, dark brown almost black color. Mostly opaque. A thin, tan colored head that fades rather quickly to a ring around the edge of the glass.

A distinct coffee aroma. Not really detecting any cinnamon aromas.

A very tasty brew with roasted coffee in the forefront with hints of cinnamon but not as dominate as the name would imply. Hints of vanilla as well. Not overly sweet by any means. A rather bitter aftertaste but not off putting.

A thin consistency with low to mild carbonation.

Free Will is my hometown brewery and they’re near and dear to my heart. This beer reminds me very much of their C.O.B. (Coffee Oatmeal Brown). A very good brew which I really enjoyed. Cheers!