Creature Of Habit
Great Raft Brewing

Pours dark brown. Head is two fingers of tan foam. Aroma is toasty, nutty, and bready malts, with molasses and dark roasty coffee in addition. Flavor profile is toasty and bready malts with hearty dark, roasty coffee throughout. Coffee is heavy on the roasty note. Mouth feel is medium in thickness. Texture is light effervescence with a very mild initial grit. Overall, coffee notes are huge and plentiful, creating a pleasant sipper.

Draft. Reviewed from notes.

16 oz can from Mash & Hops in TN. Canning date of 10 17, 2022.

Pull the tab released a strong whoosh of carbonation but the beer remained in the can. Pouring it gently into a beer glass, however, filled the tall glass with foam rather than liquid. It took at least 10 minutes for this to settle to a drinkable level. Contamination? I find it can be hard to tell in a beer with additives such as coffee. In this case, the beer doesn't smell great but remains drinkable with coffee and hints of used coffee grinds dominant.

 

 

 

Currently #52 in the Top Louisiana Beers list. Ran me $10.99 USD plus tax for a 4 pack of 16 fl oz pull-tab cans at a beer store in New Orleans, LA. Canned 09/19/19.

"Imperial Coffee Brown Ale." It's worth noting Founders' Underground Mountain Brown was sitting a couple spots over on the same shelf at $12.99 USD - tough beer to outdo. 8% ABV. 35 IBU.

Brief initial impression below from a can served chilled (but not fridge cold):

Coffee is earthy and only slightly roasty...I'd bet on Sumatra if I had to guess (and obvious Caraffa for the understated roast)? Not a nutty brown ale, but it does have a mellow brown malt backbone...it's not a real sweet brown like some might expect, nor an overhopped American one. More in the dry school of brown ale mouthfeels, which helps amplify the coffee's perceived flavour intensity.

I guess I wanted a more robust malt backbone and a more prominent evocative coffee...this is mellow on the malts and coffee and a bit thin in terms of mouthfeel. Feels a bit empty, lacking adequate depth and duration of flavour.

It doesn't hold a candle to Founders' Underground Mountain Brown, which is available in the same market...sure it's cheaper, but there's just no comparison. They need to go bigger on the malts, better on the coffee, and barrel this up to really compete with the best in the category. As enjoyable as it is, it's not a beer I'd buy again at $10.99 a 4 pack...maybe it's one of the better Louisiana beers I've had, but that says more about the current state of Louisiana beers than it does about the quality of this one.

And while we're talking about Louisiana coffee ales, the coffee character in this can't hold a candle to the coffee character in Parish's Reve...

High C / AVERAGE

 

 

Type: 16-oz. can
Glass: Modern Times 16-oz. Willi Becher glass
From: Total Wine Preston Village in Plano, Texas
Price: $3.99
Purchased: Dec. 17, 2018
Consumed: Dec. 21, 2018
Reviewed as: American Brown Ale
Misc.: Canned on Sept. 17, 2018

Picked this up with a bunch of other beer (mainly barrel-aged stouts) while on a work trip in Frisco, Texas. Basically saw an 8-percent American Brown Ale and that it didn’t have a terrible rating on Untappd (3.83) and went with it. Online description called it an “American imperial brown ale with locally roasted whole bean coffee.”

Poured a brown opaque color with 2-to-3 fingers of khaki-tan frothy head. Could not see any bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass. Very bad watery lacing. Terrible retention. (Sight - 2.75)

Smelled brown bread, roasty malts, nuts, semi-char wood, light coffee, molasses, cacao nibs and sweet caramel. (Smell - 3.75)

Tasted better than the nose. Got hazelnut, coffee, brown bread, roasted nuts, semi-char wood, cacao, roasty malts, hints of toffee and sticky molasses. (Taste - 4.00)

Medium-to-full body. Creamy texture. Average carbonation. Roasty finish. (Feel - 4.00)

Liked this beer overall. Glad I got the change to have it. (Overall - 4.00)

3.87 | 87 | B+

10oz pour, goblet-like glass, at Cochon Butcher in New Orleans.

The hue is it’s own dark, but red monster. Not quite tea, not quite red ale. While nearly opaque, it’s also clearly red. The head is a darker shade of tan with some good stickiness.

Sweet and butter roast, cold strong coffee, and the mid range toast and malt of the good brown ale. It smells like medium roast iced coffee that’s been sweetened.

This is a nice malt bomb with malty depth you’ll fall back into until you land on the ledge of coffee bitterness. Not a big ledge, but large enough to keep you from never coming out of the malty depths. Toast, medium roast coffee, dark caramel, burnt sugar.

It’s on the thin side and I’d never ever know it was 8% unless I had peeled just now. The carbonation is cute and soft.

A coffee brown ale sounded interested and is a nice branch out from coffee stouts and porters.

 

The first pour resulted in very little head. I forced the second pour. The head resembled a dark, milky, root beer float. Light does not pass through this beer except for a slight eclipsing glimmer around the edge of the meniscus. Alcohol content was evident in smell but not taste. This is a slightly heavy beer but not overbearing. It finishes nicely and dances on the pallet only for a few seconds after swallowing. The second pint pairs quite well with a muffaletta and a little "Led Zeppelin III" or "Physical Graffiti". Don't get too loud with it, though.

 

 

Big, foamy head introduced me to this smooth mouth full of lush ale. It is brewed with coffee beans but not evident in taste, more Carmel than anything else. Nice , new brew to my collection.
For an 8% ABV, not much alcohol taste. To me that is a good thing.