Espresso Stout
Pyramid Breweries, Inc.

 

Appearance: Clear, deep mahogany brown, with a modest, persistent, and dense tan head. Exotic looking lacing, resembling the hieroglyphs of a long-forgotten language decorate the glass walls.

Aroma: Deep, dark roasted cold coffee dominates the aroma. Sweet cocoa, vanilla, caramel, wood, and roasted malt are also present, but the coffee dominates.

Taste: The taste begins with strong cold coffee, soon followed by roasted malt, vanilla, wood, and then charred malt. Cold coffee and charred malt dominate the latter part of the taste. Finishes with a lingering, slightly burnt note.

Mouth feel: Soft and full, quite pleasant.

Drinkability/notes: Very pleasant and drinkable, a nice "coffee forward" ale.

Presentation: Packaged in a short brown glass twelve-ounce bottle with a twist-off crown, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice. I could not find a "best by" date.

In glass is an opaque black. Cola brown where thin. I can really only see light through it if I look up at an angle through the bubbles that were once a large, tan head and are now a fine film. Aromas of caramel, roasted malts, and chocolate. Smells and tastes a little more like a Brown Ale or a Wee Heavy than other Coffee Stouts I've had. Fairly sweet at first on the palate, before smokey, roasty bitterness takes over. Not too tangy. A mentholated aftertaste, but this isn't too obvious. Fairly thick, quite smooth for the level of carbonation, and filmy but honestly not creamy enough.

 

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 1/24/2015. Pours crystal clear very dark brown color with a 2 finger dense and rocky tan head with awesome retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toast, dark bread, vanilla, cream, and roasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roasted malt and coffee notes; with good strength. Taste of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toast, dark bread, vanilla, cream, light char, and roasted earthiness. Fair amount of roasted coffee bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toast, dark bread, light char, and roasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice robustness, balance, and complexity of dark/roasted malt and coffee flavors; with a good roasted bitterness/sweetness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy, and lightly bready/chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very nice coffee stout. All around good complexity, balance, and robustness of dark/roasted malt and coffee flavors; and very smooth to drink. A very enjoyable offering.

 

 

Poured from bottle into a pint glass

Appearance – The beer pours a super deep brown-nearly pitch black color with a two finger head of tan colored foam. The head is fairly thick and has a good level of retention, slowly fading over time to leave a ton of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma of the brew is big of a roasted malt and espresso smell as may be expected from its style. Along with these aromas comes smells of sweetness with some more cream and caramel like aromas which give it a nice sweet coffee smell overall.

Taste – The taste begins with a roasted malt taste with a little bit of a coffee taste upfront and a moderately strong sweeter caramel and sweet cream taste. A little bit of chocolate is there as well, with this fading from the taste and being replaced by more roast and a fairly substantial rise in the coffee flavors. With the increase in the coffee and a little bit of an earthy flavor coming to the taste, one is left with a still rather moderately sweetened but slightly bitter cappuccino like flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel- The body of the beer is quite a bit thicker for a brew of only 5.6 % abv with a carbonation level that is on the lower side. For the sweeter coffee and roasted flavors of the brew the feel was very nice, accentuating the more coffee dessert like quality to the brew, but yet still maintaining a great level of drinkability.

Overall- I rather enjoyed this brew as it had a moderate abv., but had a good flavor which makes it a very nice and easy drinking coffee stout.

Poured from a stubby into a shaker. A moderate pour produces a one inch, pale tan head that proves pretty sticky. The beer is a very dark reddish brown.

The aroma is subdued, with some light medicinal notes, and merges with the overall flavor to produce some toasty bitterness underlain by a fairly rich malt base. Maybe a touch of diacetyl in there. The flavor does evoke coffee, but not extremely bitter and overcooked coffee like I've experienced in other beers. I suppose it could be a bit more bold however, in keeping with its name. The body is on the light side for a stout, with a smooth but not really a creamy mouthfeel.

This is pretty average, but is easy drinking and worth a try. A good choice for beer drinkers wanting more subtle coffee notes.

This is a

 

 

 

Pours a deep, dark cola brown with a cocoa powder colored finger width head. Decent retention leads to an ever-present layer of surface suds and a fair ring around the edge. Leaves small spots of lacing that do well to stick to the glass.

Smell - Chocolate, coffee and sweet cream.

Taste - Follows the nose. Starts with chocolate and a shallow undertone of earthy coffee bean. Faint roasty notes toward the back end, but mostly finishes with a milk chocolate creaminess.

Mouthfeel - Medium to full in body with low carbonation. Smooth, creamy texture. Goes down quite nicely.

Overall - Decent, but frankly drinks more like what you'd expect a cappuccino or mocha stout to taste like rather than espresso; too creamy and not nearly enough assertive coffee character. Not terrible, but I wouldn't buy it again.