Candymaker w/ Coffee
Widowmaker Brewing

Pours black with two fingers of mocha colored foam. Aroma is sharp peanut butter right on the nose, with mild coffee behind. Roasty, toasty, caramely, and bready malts add depth, alongside toffee. It leans sweet, with peanut butter right at the front. Flavor profile is drives the same peanut butter note forward, it's sweet, with heavy dry undertones. Coffee adds some acidity, bitterness, and flavor. Roasty, toasty, caramely, bready and mild earthy malts round out the flavor profile. The leading edge is peanut butter, with coffee right behind, but clearly an after thought. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a light creamy texture. Overall, jam packed with peanut butter and coffee, and layered over a medium-bodied stout, this one drinks well and interesting.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 16oz can.

Thanks to my buddy Pat for dropping off a can of this one for me. Dude is a cellarman at Widowmaker and a veteran of the suburban Boston coffee scene, so I can only assume he had something or another to do with the coldbrew blend used in this. I have found Candymaker to be an average peanut butter stout in the past, though I really enjoyed Reace & Desist w/ Marshmallows, which is basically a stronger/imperial version of Candymaker (originally called There's No Wrong Way). Anyway, it's a PB stout with coffee. I've had Coffee Gunner's Daughter before, so how does this compare and is it worth picking up?

The pour starts off fantastically, I will say that much. It's a pitch-black brew with absolutely zero light penetration, building up a characterful head of bubbling khaki-colored foam that sinks rather quickly (which is honestly unfortunate, as it was great looking when first decanted), leaving behind no trace of lacing. At this point, I start to become a little less impressed. Really? No lacing, eh? Retention is okay, I guess, with about half-finger of light tannish foam hanging around and completely covering the surface.

The scent is pure coffee, though I do pick up a nice, surprisingly deep roasted peanut element that feels pretty dialed-in. These guys have clearly made many batches of their flagship PB stout(s) since I last had them, so I do think it's an improvement on at least the base beer in that way, but the coffee overwhelms almost everything else. Not a bad thing, because the brew used is super deep and complex with notes of dark berries and earthiness that both work to balance the sweetness of the peanut butter addition.

Flavor profile is deeply-roasty and intense, as well, with an oily complexion upfront bringing out tons of espresso-like depth and chocolate-y undertones that are backed up by dark fruit and some light herbal notes. This is so, so coffee-forward, it's absolutely insane. Definitely feels more focused on that element than Coffee Gunner's did, to be honest, but the lessening of peanut butter here (by comparison) feels like it might disappoint some people. Indeed, the balance is tough to strike and I think it might be a slightly-less-good beer because of it, but for anyone who really loves coffee stouts, this should be a new one to seek out. The feel is smooth, detailed, and well-rounded with a chewy overall texture and a fair bit of robustness that I think is on par with some of the most well-received coffee dark beers available in New England.