R&D Espresso Stout
Blank Slate Brewing Company

Laden with deep and dense coffee flavor, the collaboration beer of Blank Slate beer brewers with Seven Hills coffee brewers delivers a deeply roasted taste that hardly favors the dark ale over that of the java juice.

Deep and dark in brown, the stout casts the slimmest shade off of black, yet capped with a swirling mocha swath of foam to sell it's coffee appearances very well. And that continues as the nose is easily seduced with coffee house aromas. Bitter cocoa, earthy coffee, burnt sugars and threads of toffee give the beer its natural stout taste but the coffee infusion pushes it over the edge.

Silky, smooth and velvety, the middle palate becomes awash with full bodied espresso taste and texture. Then with the underpinnings of roasted malt, a creamy and almost marshmallowy character develops. the bitterness of roasted nuts and coffee is smooth and firm as the beer trails with mocha and burnt cream.

Yet, the medium-full ale shows "Americanized" character, trending dry and dedicated to the taste of roast and sweetness. But the wrap of espresso bean seems to give a more robust taste but without the associated weight of fuller bodied beer.