Double Stack
Great Notion Brewing

Strong if not very roasty and possibly stale taste of coffee with substantial maple syrup. Wait for it...artificial flavours. Look I'll try it, it came in a trade. Medium bodied, still carbonation despite significant amount of bumps and dents. I don't want to call it a drain pour, but most of it was not drunk I can tell you that much. Fortunate, had a La Croix nearby to restore and finish the night with a decent taste in my mouth.

Type: 16-oz. can
Reviewed as: American Pastry Stout
Glass: Tioga-Sequoia 13-oz. tulip
Price: $7.49
From: Windmill Farms in San Diego (Del Cerro), Calif.
Purchased: Jan. 11, 2023
Consumed: Jan. 15, 2023
Misc.: Canned on Dec. 16, 2022

Went to Windmill Farms looking for new North Park releases. Found one of the two, and also grabbed this and two other beers. Kind of had been looking for this for a long time. Had it once at a bottleshare during the 2018 Firestone Invitational weekend, giving it a 4.25. What I remember most is that the next morning when I woke up I tasted this beer. Great Notion’s website called this beer “Double Stack is our Imperial Breakfast Stout aged on whole bean coffee from Mostra Coffee with an extreme maple syrup flavor.”

Poured a pitch-black color with two fingers of frothy-to-fizzy khaki-tan head. Could see just a few bubbles coming up along the sides of the glass. Outstanding spotty lacing. Very good retention. (Sight - 3.75)

Smell immediately reminded me of the 2018 Firestone Invitational. Wild. In order got maple syrup, black coffee beans, semi-char wood, vanilla, toasted marshmallow, brown sugar, sticky molasses, caramel, toffee, milk chocolate and hints of cinnamon. Not as good on the nose as the initial whiff but still solid. Not as good from the can. (Smell - 4.25)

Tasted almost as good as the nose. In order got maple syrup, pancake, black coffee beans, semi-char wood, vanilla, toasted marshmallow, campfire, brown sugar, sticky molasses, caramel, toffee, chocolate syrup and hints of cinnamon. That 11 pct. ABV was well hidden. (Taste - 4.25)

Medium body. Sticky texture. Average-to-soft carbonation. Long, smooth finish. (Feel - 4.75)

This was excellent overall. Maybe not quite as good as I remember it, but still excellent. Still slightly underrated it I think. (Overall - 4.25)

4.27 | 95 | A

 

Look: Black Coffee. Will be important later. Light, 1/4 inch foam.

Smell: maple syrup and dark chocolate. Really good. Reminds me of when I was just a boy, and mom made hot cakes. While she drank coffee, I drowned them in syrup.

Taste: 50% of smell IS taste. The coffee stays. The chocolate isnt as noticeable, but the maple is front and center with your cup of joe

Feel: frothy. Thick on entry. Thins out and coats the tongue. Its a lovely experience.

Overall: My memory opens. I'm 14. With my mom at the table as she prepares hotcakes I wont forget. Worthy of all its praise, this beer took me back, and made me want some bacon to go with it. Well worth it.

Black pour topped with an attractive beige head. The aroma hits hard with coffee and maple syrup, rich and inviting. The flavor goes in a different direction than expected—far less sweet, leaning heavily into roasted bitterness and charred malt. The alcohol is impressively well-hidden, making it a bit of a stealth sipper. Even " natural flavor" did not spoil it.

 

L: Deep brown pour, nice tan head some lacing.
S: Opening the can let out a huge hit of maple syrup, strong coffee aroma.
T: Bitter stale coffee, (something I like) and some maple syrup, which tastes artificial. Log Cabin?
F: Relatively thick pour, creamy mouthfeel.
O: I bought this thinking an Imperial FBS. Nope, not even close, but better than expected.

Appeareance: Pours coffee colored with a beige film that fades to a collar; speckles and legs

Smell: Dark-roasted coffee and chocolate with the maple syrup adding sweetness

Taste: Roasted malt, chocolate and a sweetness from the maple syrup; bitter coffee, after the swallow

Mouthfeel- Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: I'm going way against the tide here but I did not find this particularly enjoyable; too much of the flavor comes from the adjuncts and there is a rather unpleasant finish; the maple syrup tasted artificial to me, as well

 

 

Tastes like Sunday morning brew with a hint of maple syrup. So good it'll make breakfast forgettable.

 

Poured from a 16 ounce undated can (marked batch- 2273) into a snifter at 54 degrees.

Look- Deep brown, dark brown creamy head, opaque, large visible particulate at the margins, above average head retention, average lacing.

Smell- Maple syrup, coffee, vanilla, roasted malt, high strength of scent.

Taste- Roasted malt, coffee, maple syrup, artificial tasting, high strength of flavor.

Feel- Between medium and full body, average carbonation, highly creamy, highly bitter, silky, moderately mouth warming, mildly mouth coating.

Overall- Appearance could not have been better. Nose was a strong maple syrup and had a high intensity. The flavor was very coffee forward, but had a very artificial quality to it. The feel was nice, but not much mouth coating property. I first had this beer on 1-13-2020 and rated it, but didn’t review it. My rating back then was substantially higher (L-5, S-4.75, T-4.5, F-4.75, O-4.75) with an overall score of 4.67. I remember the nose being more vibrant and the flavor having no artificial character. The current version of this beer was still good, but nowhere close to as good as I remember. Also, the batch number is better than nothing, but not much. Put a date on all of your beers. Had this been an IPA I would not have purchased it.

 

 

Courtesy of @muchloveforhops3

Pours pitch black with two fingers of mocha-colored, airy head. Ample lacing. Strong maple presence on the nose, almost akin to nosing straight syrup. Coffee is there and hints of caramel. Taste makes sure the coffee is known and balances out the abundant maple sweetness. Dark chocolate shows up late and carries through to the finish. Mouthfeel is moderately carbonated, silky and creamy. Finish is dark chocolate and more maple. The 11% ABV is well-hidden. While this skirts the line of a dessert beer fridge-temp to say 50 degrees, this turns more into a dessert beer as it warms; the mouthfeel goes more oily and sweetness amps up. My recommendation is don't let it get to room-temp.

Solid dessert stout

 

Great Notion Double Stack Imperial Breakfast Stout, 11% ABV. Pours black with a large-bubble two-finger light-brown head that left wispy lacing. Aroma, long before your nose is over the glass, is very strong maple syrup, strong coffee, and chocolate. Taste is strong coffee up front, then maple syrup, moderately sweet, equally bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

Another beer my wife had that I sampled. My Wife really liked it, me not so much because of the coffee flavor. My wife gave it 4.5 I personally gave it a 3.25. So Avg is about a 3.65.