Luca Brasi Coffee Stout
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed on tap at Maple Shade. Coffee added to a dry stout. Good coffee and above average mouthfeel. Some lace. Roast right there. Decent beverage. Fresh coffee aroma, and it was good coffee as much as I can compare to. For coffee fans and so-so drink ability for me.

A: Dark brown. Thick foamy head. Barely see through
S: Wonderful smell. Coffee scent is prominent but not gimmicky. Other small hints of roasted malt and caramel.
T: Amazing. It tastes like coffee but not like a gimick. And a nice dark roast of coffee not that starbucks gross crap. This beer as a coffee flavor is one of the best I've had... which is weird because it's a beer not coffee. The tiniest hint of offputting bitterness as the beer warmed.
M: Sits amazingly smooth with lingering flavors. As it warmed a slightly lingering bitterness was brought out.

Overall an amazing brew. I've had a couple so called coffee flavored beers before but they didn't really bring the flavor. This one had all the tastes I was looking for without it being a gimmick. The coffee flavor really blended well with the roastedness of the beer. Highly recommended and I can't wait to get it again.

 

 

Appearance: Black; chocolate head dissipates slowly, leaving good lacing on the mug

Smell: Strong, roasted coffee nose is overwhelming but very appealing; slight hints of chocolate sweetness to it as well

Taste: Roasted coffee balances very nicely with the typical stout backbone; sweet chocolate malt comes through lightly, adding a nice touch

Mouthfeel: Medium body; good carbonation; slight chewiness but still smooth

Drinkability: Easy to drink; smells & tastes great; can definitely have multiple ones in a sitting; highly recommend this

Overall, Luca Brasi is a delicious coffee stout, and this is coming from someone who doesn't drink coffee. I wasn't expecting this to be so good, but I was pleasantly surprised.

64 oz counter-pressure filled and brewpub fresh (from the Maple Shade location) growler into an oversized tulip glass.

Pours a straight-up flat black in the glass, with nearly 1 ½ foamy fingers of dark mocha colored head. This has a fantastic retention to it, as swirling keeps this at a rich ½ finger and throws a robust cascade up on the sides of the glass that slowly creeps down the sides and settles into thick swathes of lacing. Classic Coffee Stout look to this. The aroma just smacks you in the nose with rich black coffee character, smelling of grounds and earth and acrid roast. Lactose mixes with the sweetness from the chocolate malts to impart a rich milky tanginess to the nose. As this warms and you really start to sniff deeply of this, it combines with some acidity to add an almost slightly souring twang to the proceedings. It's not necessarily unpleasant but is noticeable. Luckily though, this mostly combines with that lush java character to come off as a cup of fresh brewed Joe with some creamer in it. This just has a really freaking awesome nose on it and might be one of the freshest smelling coffee beers that I've had yet.

The taste is similar for the most part to the aroma, with the coffee having a freshly aggressive bitter and acrid bite to it. This is assertive but still very flavorful, as it is tempered by underlying notes of sweetness from the chocolate malts and the creamy sugars of the lactose. Much like the nose, I'm getting that same souring milky tanginess that feels a little more pronounced here. There might be a bit of hop character peeking out as well, with some spice and earth that mingles effortlessly with the other coffee flavors. This stretches into a dry and roasty espresso-laden finish that leaves you with a positive impression and helps cleanse that sugary twang out of the palate. The mouthfeel is fuller bodied (pretty darn impressive for a beer that's only between 5-6%) with a sharp creaminess that prickles the tongue with the coffee and roast, and then a chewy smoothness underneath that holds a lot of the heavy sweetness from this. Maybe some very, very light warmth creeps onto the breath once in a while but it is barely noticeable.

I love me a good Coffee Stout and this one really brought the good as far as the coffee went. It looks like the techniques they used where put to good use here, as this had a fresh and bright nature to its flavors that were tough to beat. The only drawback here was the use of the lactose in the recipe but I will say that it only took on that souring nature after a couple of large glasses full of this. If you drank this in a smaller moderated amount, it probably wouldn't be nearly as noticeable. Anyway, this isn't in my upper echelons of coffee beers that I've had but it's pretty darn nice and definitely deserves your attention should be run across it at the brewpub.

A: Standard black in a pint glass accompanied by a slight khaki colored head that was frothy and slight in statue. Head retention was moderate with minimal lacing.

S: The coffee grounds really come out strong on the open, a fresh roastiness like sticking your head into a container of coffee grounds. You can tell they went through the extra effort to give this some aromatic appeal with the usage of a hopback turned coffee urn filled with fresh roasted coffee grounds. You can almost taste the freshness and roasty appeal on your tongue just by smelling this.

T: The body seemed a bit thin at first impression but the freshly roasted coffee grounds remain as fresh and strong as they appeared on the nose. Dark, fresh and roasty, simple in execution, yet earthy and bitter with a very clean perception. Flashes of dark fruit of plums appear every so briefly before the swallow. Overall the flavor was very smooth and clean, like drinking iced coffee with a rich sense of fresh roasted grounds. There was mentioned of a hop-back turned coffee urn that used 24 pounds of fresh coffee grounds before going back in the tank. This literally tasted like it came through a randall of fresh roasted coffee grounds, it was that fresh and dominant, and certainly not a bad idea (tm).

M: Medium feel on the body, much better then the initial perception but starts to lighten up on longer holds. Some nice tingling sensation from the carbonation with just enough presence to give you a good appreciation if you sit quietly and wait for it.

D: You can argue this would be a great anytime drink even in the morning. Light in body with almost no shades of alcohol I enjoyed this on a Sunday morning at 11am and was like drinking an ice coffee. The flavor was clean, with an emphasis on the fresh roasted coffee side that was exceptionally smooth going down and very sessionable hence a perfect rating here. A growler worthy treat.