Prairie Coffee Noir
Prairie Artisan Ales

 

 

 

 

Good coffee BA stout. Noir is such a great base beer that is so versatile to adjucts. Pours black with a dark tan head that dissapates. Bourbon, coffee, chocolate, and vanilla on the nose. Barrel, coffee, vanilla, brown sugar, and slight astringency from the coffee on the palate. Great think mouth feel that coats the tounge.

 

 

First off, this beer is much better than it's rated. Much better.

Second, Prairie is a very consistent brewery, maybe one of the most consistent around. Out of 21 beers rated (including this one), I have rated all but one of them over the average on this site. I haven't done the math on everything I have rated, but that seems like a pretty damn good average to me.

So this is yet another that backs up my high appraisal of them. Look is the usual appearance for their barrel aged stouts-dark, thinning brownish edges, not much in the way of activity. Smell is easily the best part of it-big boozy barrel sitting on top of a malty chocolate/coffee background. Taste has more of the woody and boozy barrel presence in the forefront, but the coffee and chocolate flavors come through extremely well. Feel is EXTREMELY smooth, a sublimely subtle booze presence for an 11.5 abv.

Prairie, you bastards, you done it again.

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017 12 oz bottle poured into tulip.
Pours dark brown with chestnut highlights and a light brown head. Smallish head that fades fast.
Smooth dark roast coffee on the nose first. Then rich chocolate and vanilla. No detectable amount of bourbon.
Less coffee in the taste. It’s still obviously there but just not as intense as on the nose. Smoother and well blended. Sweet chocolate and vanilla, some whiskey heat at the finish. Mouthfeel could be a bit bigger but that’s just a smal nitpick for me. So drinkable at 11.5%. Feels like a smaller beer. Excellent.

 

 

A: Pours an opaque thick viscous jet black in color with light to moderate amounts of fine active visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and extremely faint very dark cola brown colored highlights. The beer has a finger tall dense foamy dark mocha head that quickly reduces to a large patch of very thin film covering the majority of the surface (80%) of the beer and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Light to moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Just shy of strong aromas of dark roasted coffee over the top of moderate aromas of roasted + chocolate + caramel malts as well moderate to strong aromas of dark chocolate. There is a moderate amount of sweetness in the aroma. Light to moderate aromas of toasted oak and bourbon.

T: Upfront there are slightly stronger than moderate flavors of roasted + chocolate + caramel malts with a moderate amount of caramel sweetness. That is followed by just shy of strong flavors of dark roasted coffee and moderate flavors of dark chocolate. Finally there are just shy of moderate flavors of toasted oak and bourbon. No perceptible hop presence but not unexpected with the strong flavors in this beer, light amounts of roasty bitterness but there is a lingering bourbon coffee + chocolate flavor in the finish.

M: Full bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Smooth and silky.

O: An excellent and very enjoyable beer though definitely a sipper - strong flavors and aromas of coffee over the top of an already excellent base beer. Lots of complexity to the flavors and aroma. I would be happy to get this one again and enjoy it on another cold winter evening. Overall the alcohol is well hidden considering the strength of this beer.

Poured from 12oz bottle into glass. Stamped on bottle neck is '33416'; this is a 2016 bottling.
Opaque, black body. No real head, but bubbles come up to keep a consistent halo. No lacing.
Aroma still has a lot of coffee, with dark chocolate, and woody/oak aspect in the background.
Taste is quite sweet, with layers of dark chocolate, toffee, and coffee, with oak and whiskey contributing. Some brief whiffs of dark fruit. The first layer of marshmallow/dark chocolate is accented by the oak whiskey barrel. Coffee in the taste is not as apparent as coffee in the aroma, but is there throughout. No alcohol burn.
Mouth feel is thick and coating, which adds to the tasting.
A real sipping treat. Hides the ABV well. Good combination of smell, taste, and mouth feel. Will seek out at each annual release.

Beer pours jet black with a deep tan head. The smell is coffee, sweet cream, chocolate and alcohol. The flavor is coffee and whiskey but the whiskey really overpowers everything else with some smoke. It's mostly smooth but a hard alcohol swallow. Overall Bomb is so much better and cheaper.

 

12oz bottle with a bottled on date of 3.19.17

L - Pitch black, not much head and some minor lacing that dissipates

S - Coffee beans, whiskey, chocolate, vanilla, oak. This aroma is off the charts good!

T - Like the aroma, it has chocolate up front, tons of coffee and whiskey warms your blood up as you swallow. Very well balanced. Amazing beer

F - Full body and medium carbonation. Silky smooth. very nice

O - Amazing brew. I enjoyed it better than the regular noir. Not quite bourbon county good, but it's up there with the best

 

 

 

We know from experience that all Noirs are not created the same, but that doesn't mean it's never fun trying them all to see which ones establish themselves as kings of the hill.

This one pours shoe-shined black and tops off with a finger of dark tan froth.

Aroma is strong with coffee beans (of course), followed by milk chocolate, molasses, dried nuts, persimmon and an array of other dark fruits.

Taste is even stronger with pure coffee notes that are quickly and graciously checked by big chunks of milk chocolate, a handful of brown sugar, molasses and pine.

Sweet and heavy but welcoming from the get go. Has lingering notes of coffee bean and fusel alcohol, so it's sipper for sure, but that is never a problem, because you will want this one to last.

I'm not generally a big coffee brew kind of guy, but this one balances out quickly and provides for a thoroughly enjoyable experience, so I'm going on record and saying it. Coffee Noir is damn underrated.

 

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a chalice.

Appearance: Pours midnight black. Moderate amount of bubbles and a slight finger of tan head that quickly fades away.

Smell: A roasty and rich dark malt driven aroma with a scent of coffee, chocolate and whiskey. Big upfront scent of coffee beans. Barrel scent of whiskey, oak, vanilla, and wood. Malt scent of dark chocolate, toast, biscuit, and caramel along with yeast. Sweet scent of molasses and brown sugar. A really nice roasty aroma.

Taste: Like it smells, a roasty and rich dark malt driven taste with notes of coffee, chocolate, and whiskey. Big taste of coffee beans. Barrel notes of whiskey, oak, vanilla, and wood. Dark roasted malt notes of dark chocolate, biscuit, toast, nuts, and caramel along with some yeast. Sweet taste of molasses and brown sugar. A very good taste.

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Rich and creamy with minimal alcohol heat.

Overall: A really great Imperial Coffee Barrel Aged Stout. Great mix of coffee, chocolate, and whiskey flavors.

Pours black with half a finger of khaki head. Head only forms after an aggressive pour straight into the glass. Head retention is poor with no lacing left behind. Aroma is medium roast coffee, chocolate, caramel, and molasses. Bold notes of roasted and toasted malts notes behind. Flavor profile is chocolate, toffee, molasses, brown sugar, and medium-roast coffee. Molasses and brown sugar notes are strong. Nice sugary sweet characteristics, which are rounded out by some roasted and toasted malts. Mouth feel is thick with a velvety, watery texture. Overall, a strong, robust coffee stout that doesn't pound the palette into submission. It's balanced well with a complex array of notes to boot. Lovely.

Served in a 12oz shifter from a 12oz bottle.

 

look: Very dark, nearly opaque as a stout ought to be. Thick mocha head and lacing.
smell: Very coffee forward with a sweet, vanilla cream balancing the roasty char.
Taste: Ditto. Thankfully lives up to the killer nose.

 

Smells like whiskey and coffee as soon as you pop the top. The finish is very nice, drops off to nothing.