Mogiana Malt
Keweenaw Brewing Company

 

Pours light amber. Thin, short, white head fades fast. Lighter than i expected color to be for a coffee ale

Smells malt and coffee grounds.

Tastes light coffee, light chocolate, light caramel malt. Finish is semi sweet and lightly earthy. Lighter body and higher fizzy carbonation.

 

From my notes...

A - Pours a moderate orange with a fizzy head that quickly settles. Virtually no lacing.

S - Not terribly exciting, perhaps a bit of coffee grounds and stale malt.

T - One of the more interesting KBC beers I've had. Malty sweetness up front, with a moderate flavor of used coffee grounds mid-palate, and a kiss of mild hops on the swallow to balance out the finish.

M - Highly carbonated, borderline fizzy. I think this could definitely stand to be toned down somewhat.

D - I put back two during my trip there tonight and I could've easily consumed a couple more if I hadn't wanted to try the new batch of 36 Shilling that was available.

It's really interesting to try a coffee-centric brew that isn't a stout or a porter. Like every other KBC beer though, this could use some work.

Originally reviewed on December 5, 2006. Even orange caramel pour, with foamy fringe of whitish. Light aroma of Sanka and church-coffee grounds that have been rotting in a scented trash bag for three days in April. Flavor begins with a confused conflict between grain, unfermented wort sugars and a weak cup of coffee. A light caramel light pours through. It actually doesn’t taste terrible. After the initial awkwardness, the flavors settle out into a mellow dry combination of coffee oaks and light chocolate dust. A bit of yeast sugars climbs through the coffee grounds in the middle. Carbonation seems a bit coarse and abrasive, possibly pulling away some of the more delicate malt or coffee notes, in a Pop-rocks-like action. It is interesting to have coffee flavor that isn’t in a dark beer. Maybe this is really good and I’m just not sure. I’d like to see more agreement between the malt and the coffee. The fact that the malt character that is present isn’t all that desirable hurts, but the coffee flavor is nice and gentle, instead of rough and destructive, which is rare. Towards the end a Goldingsesque hop character alights on the tongue after the coffee parches away and you’re left with a real clean minty dryness that helps achieve even more balance and delight. For me though, in the end, mediocrity settles the dilemma, however this is one of the more entertaining, creative and intriguing beers they pour. Unique and somewhat exciting, it has good highs and bad lows, which means that if they refined this a little more and smoothed the rough edges they could have a real winner, in my book.