The PastryArchy Edition #4: Barrel-Aged Vietnamese Coffee Stout
DuClaw Brewing Co.

 

 

From the tall boy can in a snifter. This interesting little brew pours
a dark brownish black with dark cola highlights and a nice head of
off white foam that settles to a thin ring, thin dusty layer, and sports
some nice soapy lacing. Nose of earthy malts, mild coffee, and hints of
sweet brown sugar. Flavors are far from cloying with this one---faint
wafting bourbon and medium dark cocoa mingle with mild espresso and
earthy malts with subtle cola notes. Decent mouth feel; medium full
body, medium light carbonation, and a subtle dry finish that is a
touch thin but highly drinkable.

Overall, a decent brew from a brewery that has recently\surprised me
as of late.

Cheers

Canned 05/09/19

Appearance - Pours black with a cola brown edging. Tan, finger width head displaying fair retention before dying down to a thin, broken layer of suds. Some webbing, lines and small spotting make up the lace.

Smell - Getting notes of Coffee, peppery heat, lesser chocolate and vanilla.

Taste - Coffee, lesser chocolate and earth, and a very mild but consistent peppery heat. Hints of vanilla pop up near the finish. Aftertaste is mild roast and chocolate, and a strange peppery heat sensation that almost burns the throat, but not quite.

Mouthfeel - On the lighter side of medium-bodied with low-to-moderate carbonation. Slick, easy drinker with a smooth finish, but maybe a tad watery all things considered.

Overall - Very good beer, and very interesting, but the flavor profile doesn't feel quite complete and the thin body kind of kills it. This may have been a completely different beer 5 months ago, but I'm glad I'm trying it now because that earthen, peppery character is totally making this beer as I drink it.

 

 

 

 

 

Not a bad barrel-aged stout, but where is the bourbon? Pretty much all I'm getting is sweet milk chocolate with a hint of coffee. Am I surprised that DuClaw failed to make a world-class barrel-aged imperial stout, or anything remotely close to that? Umm, no.

Canned on 5/9/19. 16oz can poured into a tulip. Pours almost black with a creamy khaki head that fades leaving nice retention and lacing. The aromas are malt forward. Lots of malts. Some cocoa, marshmallow and smoke. Not much coffee or bourbon going on in the aroma department. The flavors have some dark chocolate up front. More smoke and marshmallows. The coffee and bourbon is pretty subtle in the flavor department as well, although the coffee ultimately comes through. Solid bitterness. Malts do their thing. Finishes dry. Alcohol basically goes unnoticed. Mouthfeel is full-bodied with moderate to active carbonation. It's sharp, fluffy, smooth and easy to drink.

This is an alright brew. It's a solid stout, but it's "lackluster" for a bourbon-barrel aged coffee stout, in my opinion. It's fine for what it is.

Pours a solid, ~2 finger brown head, slightly fizzy atop a very dark cola body. Unsurprisingly, retention is so-so, leaving behind no lacing, and a slight sheen atop the body, paired with a thin ring around the edge.

Nose is fairly straightforward coffee RIS: roast, mild char, red grapes, toffee, caramel, brown sugar, cola, prunes, Baker's chocolate, earthy hops. The coffee adds depth, but doesn't particularly stand out against this background. Very mild mash from the bourbon you really have to dig to find, but is pleasant once discovered. Not as dark and deep as I expected.

Flavor falls flat in almost every aspect. Cola and prunes up front, yielding to a nice coffee tone, balanced against bitter chocolate wrapped in an oaky envelope with very mild mash. Dark fruit last throughout the entire sip, and paired with a very mild banana and stronger spicy earthiness from the yeast, gives the impression that one is drinking a Belgian, not an RIS. In fact, there's very little RIS about this at all. Coconut on the finish from the bourbon, along with a vanilla aftertaste. Otherwise, there is very little to suggest this had much time in bourbon barrels at all. Long finish, with coffee and bitter chocolate lingering.

Shockingly thin and watery, especially for a series named "PastryArchy." Sting that builds, but it's flat up front. It's a surprisingly thin mouthfeel that will have you thinking of Guinness - and at double the ABV, that's unbelievable.

I was very excited going into this beer: BBA Vietnamese coffee imperial stout! These are some of my favorite words thrown together! This under-delivers across the board. I can't imagine this is the product DuClaw had in mind. In fact, all analogues I have for this beer are stout/porters in the 4-6% ABV range.

Pours an opaque brown / black color with ½” of mocha brown foam, mild retention, no lacing. Nose of coffee beans, semi earthy hops, roasted malts, chocolate, hints of vanilla, mild molasses, woody-oaken barrel notes. Taste is roasty, robust coffee, dark chocolate, burnt toast, pinch of dark fruit, mild hop bitterness, slightly acidity from the coffee beans, and some bourbon barrel sweetness. Mouthfeel is slick, thin to medium body, with low carbonation and a dry finish, with lingering coffee and semi sticky chocolate + vanilla. Overall taste is pleasant, unique coffee selection, bold dessert beer, solid sipper. No aroma or taste of 8.5% ABV, well worth drinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a short tan colored head that quickly died down, leaving wisps of lacing on the surface and a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light aromas of coffee beans are present in the nose along with notes of bourbon from the barrel aging. Hints of molasses also become noticeable as the beer warms up.
T: The taste has flavors of coffee beans and dark chocolate with a slight bit of associated bitterness and sweetness. There are also some notes of bourbon, which are most noticeable towards the finish.
M: It feels medium-bodied and a little slick on the palate with a low to moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is quite easy to drink for a bourbon barrel aged stout as it manages to hide nearly all traces of alcohol from the taste. However, it also hides a lot of the bourbon as well so it drinks more like a coffee stout with a little bourbon flavoring. The bourbon aromas and flavors were also a little more toffee-like and less vanilla-like than I was normally accustomed to seeing.

Serving type: can