Kuka - Coffee + Cream Stout
Andean Brewing Company / Nap Time Liquid Creation

 

 

It pours black with somewhat of a red tinge and a nice beige head. The aroma is of coffee and burnt bread. The taste is similarly of coffee with a dark chocolate bitterness-sweetness balance. Personally I did not taste any of the lactose. A nice Stout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kuka Coffee + Cream Stout looks like it's missing one of those two things; entirely black, this beer sheds not a single drop of colour regardless of the angle it's held against the light. The head that forms is pretty dark too: it's not fresh-fallen snow, it's the stuff still caked onto the curb days later.

Anyone who celebrates Christmas is familiar with that notorious box of chocolates, the one usually given by a distant relative or as an unimaginative hostess gift. This smells like that. It's a nice aroma but not one that requires overthinking; milk chocolate shell and creamy truffle center are direct and on display.

The taste, however, is all coffee - well, coffee and cream (duh). And I'm not talking instant powder and skim milk - I mean heavy dark roast and full fat cream. As rich as that profile sounds, however, the beer is surprisingly light-bodied. Lactose imparts vanilla in the aftertaste but otherwise there's little else.

Flavours are well-focused but not put under a microscope. Put another way, it has character but not complexity, which makes it a stout equally suited to a social evening with friends or a quiet night in. It's also worthy of serving with dessert, though it's more easy-drinking than typical after dinner tipples.

Accurate though they are, descriptions of truffles, coffee and cream make this Kuka offering sound like a bit more of a treat than it actually is. But while lacking in some of the nuanced, denser qualities we've come to expect from American stouts, it is nonetheless a really pleasant offering that I'd buy again.

Bottle to tulip glass. Dark black, small white head. Aroma is toasted barley,coffee. Taste is cola, coffee. Very smooth, minimal carbonation. Good Beer. Easy drinking.

I really love the label art on this beer, though I wish I could say the same for the product inside. Overall, I found the coffee and cream flavors to be rather underwhelming. By no means is this beer a poor expression of the style, I was just hoping for more intensity of the flavors present.

Pours dark with a cream head. Light lace. Definite smell of chocolate tootsie roll that aftertaste people referring to as metallic tastes like to me of an aftertaste of smokiness like beef jerky. Very good

This beer would be much better if it didn't have a slight metallic taste. As it is, there is a noticeable alcohol presence despite the relatively low 6% abv and it's hard to get past the metallic notes.

12 oz bottle poured into a Delerium Tremens snifter. No date information found on bottle.

Pours pitch black with a full finger of mocha foam that fades quickly without lacing. Sweet aroma fills the room, and the beer gives of a lot of dark roast coffee smells as well. First sip sweet, thin bodied, with a metallic aftertaste. Expected this beer to have a lot of roasted bitterness by the smell, but it is surprisingly smooth instead.

I'd prefer this if there was a little more viscosity / body. There is lactose sweetness but it leaves a tinny aftertaste without some more body to support. The coffee really doesn't come through as much as the nose would suggest.

This beer has some positive qualities, but could use a little more refinement to showcase more coffee and tie the flavors together better.