The Beard Lebrewskie
Brown Beard Brewing Co.

Taster at Brown Beard. Hazy golden with ring of head, solid lacing. Coffee is all over the aroma, bitter. Taste too, all coffee. Very bitter. Not my cup of tea...er, coffee....

the name is a bit of a reach, but this beer is great, in my top few favorites from our visit to this newest brewery in boise. its a golden stout, but i have a hard time listing these as stouts, a golden strong is better. this is done with coffee, vanilla, lactose, and what they call bourbon oak, i assume chips or spirals soaked in whiskey, as this place is brewing too small of batches for actual barrel ageing to make much sense. i think the beer is excellent, its clever, and most importantly, the extra ingredients all seem high end and authentic, and its not overdone on the milk sugar, a common pitfall in this style. its honey colored brew stained ever so slightly by the coffee, enough carbonation but very little head, and a light chill haze on it. the nose is warming and cozy from the coffee, plenty of roast coming through, cocoa too, and the vanilla serves to enhance the java, its really forward in the mix here. more oak than bourbon, but both marry in well, and the base beer seems somewhat simple overall, fluffy maybe from oats, a little sweet, but somewhat unremarkably malty, richer than the color suggests, and it does indeed feel like a stout on the palate. the coffee is forward with the wood in the flavor, and there is a wonderful drawn out slow pace and textural smoothness to this. it could be slightly drier, but its not diabetic either, and i like the proportions and evolution of this on the palate really well. mild whiskey on the finish, natural vanilla, and a deeply nutty, almost hazelnut element to the coffee. very tasty overall, sneakily strong, and a beer i will look forward to drinking again. nothing really quite like this around here, it should become a house favorite...