O'Leary's Milk Stout
E9 Brewing Co.

 

 

 

Really nice coffee milk stout, sweet and potent.

the beers listed on both pages, the production brewery and the original spot, i am never sure where to review them, but i am fairly certain all the cans are coming from this location, so here we go, but i cannot confirm that. i have not had much stout from these guys, so cool to see this. i am shocked by its darkness and viscosity for how modest the alcohol is, its truly almost syrupy in texture, and the head is short but thick too, mocha toned, soft looking, tiny bubbles, some pretty lace, close to an emulsified oil espresso crema thing, and a shine to this, near black, deep in color its crazy, this could visually pass as a russian imperial type. it smells like a ton of coffee, not too much lactose, its all in the finish of the flavor, all in the burps, back of the tongue, smooth as hell, but its not too quick to show its hand, and i prefer that to it being sweet and creamy from the get go. this coffee tastes old school and italian, robustly dosed yes, but deeply roasted and almost burnt, brewed heavy, i feel it immediately from a caffeine standpoint too, and all this body sits deep in my belly, again lots of imperial qualities to this. the coffee pushes through the grain and the sweet to lead the way, its the first and last thing i smell and taste, and while this isnt overly complex, it certainly is intensely flavored. smooth but weighty, totally tongue coating, i feel like i will feel this in my blood, maybe even tomorrow still, its heavy, almost too much so, but i appreciate a bold attempt and the beer is predictably well executed from these guys. one of the rare occasions though where as much as i like the beer, i am glad i got a single instead of a four pack, that would be a huge dose of this one...

edit: looks like the e9 locations have been merged on here now. had this on tap at the production spot last week and its way different than i recall, smoother now, lesser in body, smooth and long still, but less huge, and more nuance in the coffee, it was just coming on and thus presumably extremely fresh, and it smelled and tasted that way too, nutty and cocoa forward, less burnt and bitter, and there is a lot of nuance in the base beer, it doesnt all hit at once, almost english malty in places, some yeast too here, and it presents more more refined now, creamy and with the coffee well integrated, frankly quite a bit better overall. improving some scores, this latest batch is money, great coffee profile and a real nice mellow texture...

16oz can poured into a snifter-shaped nonic.

A: Fantastically jet-black pour with a small off-khaki-colored head and minimal lacing.

S: COFFEE, front and center; this isn't mocha, this is robust, freshly-ground coffee beans. There is a sweetness behind that that makes me think of lactose.

T: More of the same, loving the earthy and mildly-bitter but super-fresh tasting coffee; its not acrid or 'green' or vegetal or overly-bitter; its just smooth and robust and fresh-tasting, with a creamy lactose-like sweetness behind it.

MF: Creamy, smooth, velvety-smooth body that feels closer to full than medium. Gentle carbonation.

O: Very nice, I appreciate all kinds of coffee brews and this one has an excellent, freshly-ground coffee presence, without being distracting with a lots of other adjuncts.