Ketchum Cream Ale
Sawtooth Brewery

Nitro pour at Taphouse. Medium golden and clear once the nitro settles, a nice creamy head remains. Aroma is malty with light coffee notes. Taste is the same. Creamy texture with some drying.

 

as distinct from their normal ketchum cream ale, which i have not tasted, but believe exists as a separate entity. id like to try the base cream ale because it seems solid, but this coffee edition is nice too, lots of coffee to it in nose and taste, fresh to me, and likely to be cold brewed and blended into finished beer, as acidity is low and the flavor is pure, id like to know how they do it though for sure. there is some sweetness here, a honey and vanilla note, some from the grain, but part of me wonders if there is lactose or some back sweetening in this somehow, as its not as dry and crisp as i like a cream ale to be, which is a shame because the rest of it is really there for me, and a drier finish here would yield a way more drinkable beer in terms a session. i am on a huge coffee beer kick right now though, so i dont let the sweetness ruin it for me, and it least its not derived from caramel malt. its clean still in the grain, and there is an attempt from the yeast to make this crisp. the bitterness of the coffee pushes through, but unfortunately not quite enough for this to appear balanced, although i like that layer in here a lot. some cocoa and nuttiness to the coffee, quality stuff, and relatively strong. i could do without the vanilla note and the sugar, but this is a cool coffee beer that works anytime of day. still not totally sold on these guys, but this one has a lot of promise.