Galactic Cowboy Nitro
Left Hand Brewing Company

 

I rather like this beer. Purchased a four pack of this beer at the local Total Wine. Poured from a can into a tulip glass. Absolutely gorgeous creamy, persistent beige head atop a rich dark brown body, excellent curtain lacing. Very pleasant smell and taste of mocha. Chocolate cake and vanilla. Silky feel that is a tad thin. Overall a very nice, comforting beer.

Maybe my favorite nitro yet. Roasted barley and chocolate. And nowhere near as watery and flat as most nitros(but still watery and flat nonetheless ) I can barely taste the alcohol and the beer is so smooth that could be a bad thing.

 

 

It's a nice nitro explosion, cracking opening a 13.65 fluid ounce can. It's probably too little liquid to fill the clear pint glass, but at a 9% ABV, too potent to empty two cans into a larger vessel. A big loud opening is followed by a big foamy transfer from can to glass. Within a reasonable time, this ends up with the perfect stout look. There's a tight modest and enduring biege head on top of an opaquely black coffee brown brew. The smell may be less than poignant, but it is solidly of roasted barley. To taste, this is barley sweet up front, then transitions to bitter, via the roasting of the barley, the hops and the alcohol. The nitro delivers this in a way too smoothly for the well-being of the consumer. The head sustains until the end, but the glass lacing is less than impressive. Overall, this is a malt focused tasty way to ingest a high dose of alcohol, very and maybe too smoothly. This adds no additional flavors outside a good stout, like peanut butter, coconut, chocolate, et al. It needs not to, this can stand out on its own.

Loved how this looked, but the rest of it was way hoppier than I prefer, especially for a stout. Otherwise, it was overall a solid beer, light on the tongue, but boozy to its core.

 

Look: It pours black with a creamy frothy head. Head retention is excellent.

Smell: It has a sweet and roasty character in the aroma. There are some chocolate notes in support.

Taste: It has roasted and coffee flavors up front with chocolate in close support. There is a touch of vanilla as well.

Feel: It has a creamy and smooth texture with a bitter kick in the aftertaste.

Overall, the texture makes it an easy drinking beer in spite of the ABV.

 

Ebony with a 1.5" creamy tan head, whic lasts. Heavy lacing.

Aroma of coffee, chocolate, roast malt.

Taste is coffee, chocolate, caramel, roast malt.

Full body, light carbonation. Creamy, dry, astringent finish.

Very good creamy stout.

Galactic Cowboy Nitro pours black, with a long lasting, creamy, large tan head. Aroma is dark choclate and coffee. Flavor is very roasty, bitter coffee and hints of semi sweet dark chocolate. Good body and feel. Overall, fantastic nitro stout. Creamy feel, great strong full flavors.

this is really something, a modern beer but also a throwback, unexpected, absurdly hoppy, definitely in the black ipa range for me, they dont say much about that, but i reckon thats what it is, certainly on the aggressive side of hops for this style, but it really works, ballsy and assertive beer, super well made, the first cool new one from left hand i have tried in what feels like forever. i was impressed with this. nice nitro from the big can, creamy looking near black brew but this is a ridiculous dose of this, way more than i would want to take down on most occasions. the nose is spicy bitter from the hops, cascade evident even, rarely are strong dark beers, even the very hoppy ones, varietal specific for me, but this one definitely is, right away. black pepper and a rye malt note meet light smoke, nearly burnt coffee, dark raw chocolate, and charcoal, pretty direct and mighty appealing. the nitro which often mellows aroma in my experience, does not seem to soften this much if at all. the flavor is similar, green and leafy, dank and bitter, spicy and pine forward hops, very northwestern, very bold, oily in feel too, bitter not just at the end but all the way through, some bitterness compounding with the intense roast on the barley. some light lemon and gin notes to finish, lingering bitterness, very little sweetness from any malt. fuller body, a little light on the nitrogenation after it sits a minute, but pleasant and smooth. i like the palate coating intensity of this, and overall was impressed that this seemed to push into the black ipa realm. not too boozy either but still big to drink on. nice beer here, way unconventional for the style!

2022-05-04
16oz nitro can served in a big snifter. Best by 12/21/2022.

Pours typical nitro -- creamy brown, settling slowly into a black beer with about a finger of very dense, very creamy looking head. It's attractive. Smell is coffee and anise.

Taste is moderate sweetness, a fair level of char or dark roast coffee, moderate anise.

Mouthfeel is medium and creamy, smooth. Overall, definitely good (though I'd like to compare with a non-nitro version).

 

I love this beer so much. Left Hand is known for their Nitro beers, but this one is different. There's some sort of magic that happens with the nitro in this that makes a 9% stout so creamy, smooth, and drinkable that I haven't been able to experience in any other beer I've had - a drinkability that gives the perfect platform for the rich, chocolatey, malty flavor to come though without being overpowered by booze at all.

L: Hard-poured into a Guinness glass (sacrilege, I know, I'm sorry). Always a delight to hear the growl of the nitrogen releasing. The only way to mess up this pour is to miss your opportunity for a first hard splash of liquid onto the glass, regardless, ends up with a perfect inch of head. Tan/brown color of the rising nitro bubbles is a delight to watch as it slowly darkens into a darker black.

S: Immediate chocolate, coffee, malts, cocoa nibs, almost like chocolate milk. Beyond the strong flavors, the smell is where you can immediately recognize the booziness of a 9%'er, soon to be softened by the creamy head

T: Bitter chocolate, coffee with creamer, booze but much much less that what you would expect after what you may have sniffed. The nitro is SO effective at paving the way for the flavors to come forward beyond the alcohol, which is what makes this one so special. Scary easy to drink, take it slow!!

F: Everything that makes Nitro Milk Stout or even Guinness so velvety is also here. Creamy and smooth - after halfway finished I like to give it a swirl to release more bubbles and a little more head with each remaining sip.

Overall - This beer is probably one of my most favorite stouts, and probably my favorite imperial out there. This beer reminds me of many holidays at my soon-to-be wife's family's house, wrapping presents while chatting about anything with her father. Many more.

On tap at 5280 Burger Bar

The look is a dark black with a one finger tan head. Head is pure creamy foam from the nitro. Not much else to see since no light gets through. Some lacing but not super impressive.

Smell is of dark chocolate malts and a hint of coffee nice and roasty. Definite American stout smell, not very hoppy on this one, but in my opinion that's good for a dark beer like this. Quite sweet with some fermentation notes.

Taste is very similar to the smell with even more roasty character and a lot of malts. I like this a lot. Some bitterness but not nearly as much as I would've expected from an imperial stout. Just super malty in a good way. Taste isn't as sweet as the smell, but the finish is all coffee.

Feel is almost like a latte going down. Super creamy, but it doesn't feel flat either there is a little bit of co2 bite here which I appreciate, but it doesn't take away from the smoothness. This is dangerously easy to drink.

Overall this is the definition of dangerous. Super smooth, slight sweetness, big in the malts with a kiss of bitterness that doesn't overstay its welcome. Honestly could pass as a desert drink. Super tasty. Super roasty watch out for that 9%

I bought a 4 pack at the LCBO in Ontario 404ml at 9%.
As soon as I popped the can open I heard a Ntro blast poured it hard into a glass .
Nice creamy head with chocolate and coffee flavors.
The beer left a perfect lace all.around as you drink it right till the end.
Very smooth and creamy alll the way
Overall a very strong and enjoyable stout beer .
Cheers

Look: The pour was nice and smooth, creamy - similar to a milk stout. Maybe its the nitro. Dark-ish brown look with light foam, about half a fingers length to be exact.
Smell: Getting some notes of chocolate, coffee, malts.
Taste: Very smooth taste!! Getting notes of bitter-sweet chocolate a long with a hint of coffee with a bitter finish. Well done!!! The combination along with the nitro does a good job in hiding the alcohol and really brings out the different flavors.
Feel: Medium to full bodied beer. Very light to no carbonation.
Overall: Very good beer!! I'm glad I picked this up at total wine and more - I hear this is a limited release but didn't know until I grabbed it. I'm a huge Left Hand Brewing fan - obsessed with their peanut butter milk stout. This one ranks well up there with the rest!

Pours an almost pitch black, that you can see is a very dark hued ruby when held up to the light. A beautiful stout remains with finger thick, slightly off white head that remains for the entire drink, as typical for these beers.

Aroma is surprisingly strong, giving off strong roasted malts, chocolate, with notes of earthiness and coffee.

Well, they weren’t lying about the smoothness. It goes down very smooth, mildly creamy at first sip. Milky dark chocolate, the roasted malts are actually a little less than some other nitro stouts, but there is a mildly more pronounced hop bitterness. It’s all very gentle though, and melds together quite well. Very slight astringency that mixes with the mild bitterness, it’s that good oat and hop flavour mixed so well with the malty backbone and chocolate notes. Maybe just the ever so slightest whiff of charred wood and bourbon, but it could be the alcohol playing that up here.

Finishes a little dry, just a little sweet, like the dark chocolate cocoa turned to bittersweet milk chocolate. The carbonation is so incredibly fine, it clings as tight as possible to the top of your tongue and palate that if you chugged this beer you might think it wasn’t even there at all. Makes for an unbelievably creamy and mild sip. The 9% is barely noticed whatsoever, not in the sip, not in the exhale. Medium bodied leaning slightly on the heavier side due to the lack of serious carbonation.

Less of a foamy-creamy experience, at least in that typical creamy smooth bubbly mouthfeel of certain beers, and more silky smooth IMO, but we might be arguing semantics at this point. Regardless of what you call it you can expect a very smooth drinking experience.

Overall, a surprising offering that takes all the good notes of a nitro stout and hits a home run on all of them. A lot of folks complain that while nitro offers a very smooth drinking experience, it can mute the flavours and aromas. Not so here, at least. It doesn’t blast you in the face with the aromas or flavours, but they are absolutely more pronounced than 90% of nitro stouts out there. Glad I got a four pack of this!

EDIT: Revisit, March 25th.

Was inevitable as I picked up a four pack of this. Not sure what I was writing about in the mouthfeel before, the body is mildly oily from the oats, which gives it this deliciously smooth, silky texture. In addition to my previous review, the high ABV% gives me a taste of rum filled chocolate notes I didn’t pick up on before. This beer is even better the second time. By and away the strongest flavoured nitro beer I’ve had so far.

Original rating: 4.15
Revisited rating: 4.27