Brig
Springdale Beer Co.

I enjoyed my first sample of this years ago but found subsequent samplings excessively sweet. The beer certainly *looks* good; it's black, with an enormous, creamy, lasting head. Coffee evident in nose. It is very sweet. There are *almost* enough roasty coffee and chocolate flavors to combat the lactose -- but not quite.

Take out the damned lactose and this would be a great stout.

 

Pours a dark brown with a 1F tan head and light lacing.

Smells and tastes of sweet toasted malt, bitter coffee and chocolate.

Medium body and light carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel.

Nicely done!

 

16oz can as gift. Near black pour, small beige head fades to flat. Aroma is half chocolate, half coffee. Taste brings both sweetness and bitterness. More emphasis on the coffee.

Pours ebony with a 1/2 inch tan head, which slowly fades. Moderate lacing.

Aroma of coffee, chocolate, roast malt.

Taste is coffee, chocolate, roast malt, oats. Astringent.

Full bodied, light carbonation. Dry, astringent finish.

A very good coffee stout.

Virtually black, essentially headless. A not very strong aroma of roasted malt, not enough intensity to recognize anything else. The slightly sweet flavor is more than expected based on the nose: roasted malt, coffee, some milk chocolate, pepper & alcohol with a slightly bitter finish. A somewhat thin feel, yet there’s enough entertainment for the tongue despite the low carbonation. Overall, slightly disappointed but still a very good stout.

 

 

Updated with a review in Feb 2023.

Format and age: 16oz can purchased from the brewery in Dec 2022, canned Oct 25, 2022.

Cold chain: excellent. Stored cold at the brewery, transported cold, kept in fridge at home.

Impressions: pours black/very dark brown at the edges with a short-lived tan head. Aromas of chocolate, roasted coffee and malt. Starts with mildly bitter chocolate and lactose sweetness. As it warms, it opens up and balances much more nicely between the roast and bitter flavors of chocolate, coffee, and malt, and sweetness from lactose. Medium to full bodied with a soft and smooth texture from the oats and lactose.

Overall: a great breakfast stout. I always thought that Springdale should brand this as a breakfast stout instead of a mocha stout (what even is that?) as it is much more in that tradition than it is a dessert or pastry stout. Very sad to see this one go by the wayside, but hopefully Springdale can be reborn sometime soon.

 

 

 

Canned 1/9/20, crazy to think how much of a simpler time that was

Well I guess I'm on a Springdale fix today, with this being my second beer rated from them today. This one has sat for quite some time in the fridge, let's see how it holds up

Pours a velvety black with 2 fingers of light brown head that slowly fades to a cap and leaves decent lacing

Really not all that much going on in the aroma here. The coffee is dark roasted, some milk chocolate, sweet lactose, and a touch of bittering hops

The taste starts off with a blend of creamy chocolate and char before moving into a less heavily roasted coffee after the swallow with a nice malt backbone to support it. Certainly much better than the nose led me to believe

A full body combines with mild tingly carbonation to create a rich beer that is also airy, likely a product of the oats. The finish is somewhere between dry and sticky

While this wasn't anything revolutionary, it was still damn passable and tasty. A breakfast beer after midnight, now I just want some pancakes

 

 

 

 

The ebony tap pour appears soda-like with a very thin tan cap. The aroma is faint with coffee and toasted malt.
The flavor is full. There are charred malt aspects and some espresso bitterness.
The mouthfeel is thin.