10W-40
Hi-Wire Brewing

First chance to try any Hi-Wire, and this didn't disappoint.

Looks, tastes, and pours like an old school Stout. Ironically, not as motor-oily as others out there. Vanilla and some chocolate up front and in the nose, but the finish is a smooth, black coffee. Nothing overpowers anything else--the balance is really nice.

 

L: Dark brown, near-black. Opaque. Forms a short mocha head that quickly dissipates to leave behind no lacing and a faint level of retention.

S: Heavy notes of espresso, bitter and earthy. Roasted malts and dark chocolate. Coffee beans.

T: Bitter coffee at first, then dark chocolate second. Malts towards end. No vanilla (contrary to can). Flavor is perhaps better without it however. It's not boozy but it does have healthy amounts of chocolate and coffee as advertised. Back to basics.

F: Medium bodied. Fair amount of carbonation. Creamy and lingers towards end.

O: This reminds me of a java stout. The coffee really dominates and the chocolate is the icing on the cake. If you're inclined to coffee (I am), odds are you will be entertained. If not, perhaps look elsewhere. Solid stuff

Canned on: 01-09-23

A - Pours pitch black with moderately dense creamy lacing.

S - Nice chocolate roast aroma with a hint of cream.

T - Chocolate roast, coffee, vanilla and cream, and ends with a balance between chocolate and cream, the coffee is very light on the palate.

M - Big medium body with a creamy texture.

O - Very approachable, very enjoyable. Worth a try.

 

 

Not a go to beer for me and I love imperial stout BUT the chocolate coffee blend is pretty good plus a kind of spicy thing going on in the aftertaste. Great beer overall

 

 

 

Good tasting beer with so much at one time happening (cocoa, carob, coffee) and virtually no heat. Only real knock is that it's strikingly thin for the style

Look: A space void
Smell: Bakers chocolate and coffee
Taste: Like a toasted tobacco-y banana bread with chocolate chips and espresso

Awesome stout... Will totally buy again.

 

Bought a 4 pack for $16. Got it cuz i saw "carolina reaper" and my mouth started watering. Poured straight out of the can into a snifter and a two inch fat multi-colored brown and tan head rose up out of the center. Dissipated within a minute to leave a creamy layer of fizz on top. The beer is very dark brown. Smell is pretty much chocolate and coffee, it's not too strong or overwhelming. Taste is a nice balance of sweetness and bitterness. Sweet from the chocolate, raisin, vanilla. Bitter from the coffee, some cinnamon. The heat is not too strong, it hits after the beer is swallowed, spreading across the palate, enveloping the mouth. Stings the throat a bit, but is quite tamed. Mouthfeel is somewhat watery, not thick, a good amount of effervescence. Overall I usually like a stronger presence of heat in my favorite pepper flavored beers, but this isn't too bad. It definitely deserves the name it's got: "Mexican Hot Chocolate".

 

 

L: Predictably, it looks like motor oil. Caramel head.

S: Roasted grains with adjunct ingredients. Not bad.

T: The coffee and chocolate might be real--It's cheaper than fresh hops which would impress me. It doesn't really taste like a beer anymore. It's not bad but I struggle to call it a beer.

F: Weighty, thick, and sticks to the palate.

O: Adjunct ingredients have a tendency to build up on themselves and throw off the balance of a brew after a can.

 

wow this is really good coffee dark chocolate stout!
Look: dark black on pour, nice brown head, no transparency to the light
Smell: sour coffee not strong
Taste: strong aromatic coffee buzz malt not strong
Feel: heavy smooth and linger coffeish
I want drink this all the time (I like coffee) to me 12oz can is enough but we have 16oz caffeine loaded bomb. Reminds me Reve coffee stout from Parish Brew.

 

 

Maybe it’s subliminal, but it does appear to pour like motor oil...

Great looking beer - perfectly black with the creamiest of heads. The smell was sweet, chocolaty, light coffee scent, and even some cinnamon. Mouthfeel was the silkiest I have had in quite some time. Strong coffee taste that overpowers the rest, but overall, this is a dessert beer that can easily and does stand on its own.

Pours with a respectable head with an aroma of vanilla. Good lacing. Taste is chocolate and slightly roasty with a creamy mouthfeel. A decent stout with a decent taste.

 

 

 

10W-40 from Hi-Wire Brewing Company (Actually brewed and canned by The Three Ring Brewing Co.) Purchased 11/10/20 for $4.62 (Including tax and discount) for 16 oz can ($ 0.289/oz) from State Line Liquors in Elkton, MD. Reviewed 1/1/21.
Stamped on bottom of can “PACKAGED 10/16/20”. On room temperature shelf at store and stored at home at 42 degrees. Served at 54 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 57.3 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Brown (SRM 20), clear.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. When held to direct light, same.
Head – Large (Maximum 5.5 cm, aggressive center pour), fawn, high density, average retention, diminishing to a five to seven mm undulating crown, and a complete cap. Second pour produces a 1.7 cm rocky head.
Lacing – Excellent! Wide band of mostly near-microscopic bubbles that quickly merge to form a torn curtain.
Aroma – 4 – Both coffee and chocolate are equally present, no hops, no yeast, no vanilla. Lasts although it weakens.
Flavor – 4 – Begins slightly sweet with a heavy coffee and a light chocolate flavor, a little roasted malt, no hops, no yeast, no vanilla. No alcohol (8 % ABV, as marked on container) found in either nose or taste but a marked esophageal burning followed by a slight gastric warming does occur. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Ends with a light malt bitterness.
Palate – 3 – Medium, more watery than creamy, lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 A good example of a coffee stout, fairly well balanced with chocolate. The flavor is not spectacular but is above average for the style. The nose is good. The mouthfeel is a bit thin, particularly for a stout.

Black in color with no penetration to light. There’s a half inch of creamy brown on top. The aroma is of coffee and chocolate. I’m tasting very bold cold brewed coffee and dark chocolate. The mouth is thick and chewy.

Oil Black Pour that lives up to the name. Coffee and Chocolate came though well in smell and in taste. Very smooth.

Delicious coffee stout brewed mid-October, poured into a NB globe.

A: Fairly pitch-black body; not the most dense of stouts at only 8%, but it is capped with an attractive khaki/mocha head that laces well with a layer of tight bubbles.

S: Strong coffee presence of earth and bitterness, but not acrid or burnt; smells inviting for a coffee brew. Mild impressions of nutty cocoa and vanilla.

T: The mocha emerges with creamy smoothness and mild chocolate/vanilla sweetness; reminds me a lot of the Eel River Single Origin, but this coffee is a bit more earthy and nutty, and thus mildly more bitter.

MF: Uber smooth and fairly creamy; just an easy-drinking pleasure with just the smallest flash of heat on the finish.

O: Overall this is a solid coffee brew, I like the straight-forward ness of the mocha on this one vs. the German chocolate variant, but they were both good.

16oz can. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It left sticky sheets of lace on the glass. It smelled of chocolate, vanilla, toffee, coffee and caramel. It tasted of chocolate, toffee, vanilla and coffee. Nice bitter finish.

Top notch in every aspect. Classic black in color, one of the foamier heads that hung around 5 + minutes. Pleasant mild, blended aroma of the chocolate, coffee and vanilla. Taste is similar, I got some lingering chocolate. Feel is medium, quite smooth. Glad I tried it and will buy again.

 

 

 

 

 

I got a can of this beer off the single shelf from my local beer store just around the corner. It poured an opaque dark with very thin tan head that is not leaving much lace. The scent had milk chocolate and vanilla notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with pepper/cinnamon spice mixed with cocoa and vanilla flavors. The mouthfeel was medium in body and had good carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer.

super creamy head! and thick! coffee takes center aroma. basic expected flavor from the aroma, which is good....