Brunch Stout
Lupulin Brewing

 

Tap pour at JL Beers (Burnsville MN). Presented super chilled.
Black colored body, with less than one finger beige colored head. Minimal lacing.
Aroma has lots of dark chocolate, with whiffs of coffee and maple barrel.
Taste is more silky milk chocolate, with coffee. The maple provides some sweetness. Has some barrel notes that introduce a little dark fruit and a little twang.
Medium mouth feel. Okay carbonation. Easy sipper, no big alcohol burn.
Tasty barrel aged stout without the adjuncts. Allow to warm to get full range of flavors.

Darker black body, light half finger white head, not much retention. Smell is milk chocolate, a touch of coffee, a bit of cocoa. Not much maple here or on the palate. Touch of whiskey heat. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, lower in carbonation, a bit of cocoa and milk chocolate sweetness on the finish. Straightforward, nothing too big on the adjunct side.

I'll preface my review by stating that I'm a very big fan of Lupulin's IPA game - Blissful Ignorance, Straight Hash Homie, and Hooey have all been quite good... though they do suffer quite a bit from batch variation. That element of unpredictability is not my favorite.

Similarly, my experience has lead me to believe that Lupulin's stout game is slightly... quirky. Barrel God was decent. Rus was decent. Chocolate stout was not great. Brunch Stout? Well! It's just a notch above decent. Poured in to an 8oz snifter, the beer smells quite good - it has a lot of coffee, a bit of maple, and an overall aroma of pleasant sweetness. The taste is similar - the maple is subdued, but somehow it's still very sweet. The coffee is nice, but indistinct. Not enough roast for me. While beer is apparently barrel-aged, I'm not getting a ton of barrel notes (or bourbon, if it was a bourbon barrel).

Generally speaking, Brunch Stout is STILL a better beer than the other Lupulin stouts that I've had - but it does need a bit of tweaking. This could be quite good, given another batch with some different, higher quality coffee and a more forward maple adjunct. I'd also like just a bit of vanilla and cinnamon. I missed those entirely, if they were present.

 

Tan head. Black color. Not too thick.

Reminds me of a mikkeller or omnipollo stout. Maple syrup but not a lot of Barrel. Lots of cocoa and chocolate. Little coffee but more coffee bitterness.

Solid, but the description makes it sound way better.