Melanoidin
New Image Brewing Company

 

16 oz can. Pours dark brown black with a small creamy brown head that quickly goes to a thin film that laces the glass some.

The aroma is sweet perfumey roast chocolate malts with some black licorice and a little dark fruit.

The flavor is sweet but heavily roasted chocolate malt. It's a bit chalky with some fruit notes and a big bitter roast finish. The alcohol is well hidden and unfortunately the coffee is too. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with low carbonation.

Overall, a solid imperial stout. I was hoping for more coffee.

From a 16 oz can (no date) to a snifter.

A-This beer pours with a tall head of nice looking dark-brown head. The foam fades steadily in the glass and leaves no lacing. The beer beneath is also dark brown (almost black) and shimmery in the light. Good looking stuff.

S-The aroma is quite heavy on the coffee...like a cup of two-day old drip. I also pick up the aroma of baking spices like cinnamon and some black licorice notes. Bitterness is pretty high and I'm not sniffing much in the way of oatmeal.

T-The taste has a similar dose of coffee flavor, which pretty much dominates the beer from start to finish. The baking spices only seem to amplify the bitterness of the coffee. Strangely enough, the flavor is almost herbal and leafy with a chocolate flavor that suggests Hershey's syrup. I pick up a little oat flavoring that gives the beer a hint of creaminess, but that creaminess is quickly overpowered the coffee flavor.

M-The beer is smooth and moderately weighted. Carbonation is chunky on the palate but mellow.

O-I continue to struggle with beers by New Image. This one looks nice (and feels nice too), but Melanoidin has such a strange flavor profile that I could not get into it.

 

 

 

a really big and tasty stout here, distinct with this coffee, almost middle eastern or turkish or something, like the coffee is spiced, very distinctive brew. the base stout is definitely a little light for my palate, not in flavor, not at all, the flavor is there and its great, more in the feel, which is thin for its strength and a tad exposed on the alcohol. the flavors though are great, the coffee is forward but well balanced by the roast and chocolate in the grain, heavier on the latter, almost like a double brown ale from a malt standpoint. maybe a little smoke in there, some sweetness, and then the coffee, which is a perfect mix of earthy and bitter and deep. it flatters the base beer for sure, this would be less good without it for certain. hints of raisin and cardamom and molasses in here, makes it feel foreign, but with the mild acidity of the coffee, there is a lot happening and its great. they have some in whiskey barrels at the brewery waiting for maturation, and i am positive that will be an upgrade on this already solid brew. a slow sipper here but a good one again from these guys.