Nitro Cup A Joe
Short's Brewing Company

Really enjoyed this. Primarily drink the big BBA stouts these days so it's always a good reminder that there are wonderful stouts out there that are under 9%. It didn't feel quite as nitro-y as I expected, but the base stout was great and the coffee flavor blended nicely. I remember liking the original Cup o Joe from Short's a lot as well, but don't remember it well enough to compare the two. Would buy again.

Thanks to Whyteboar for this one.

Poured from a 12 oz. can into a Sam Adams Nitro glass.

This beer pours nearly black with cascading bubbles and a large tan head that recedes slowly leaving behind a minimal amount of lacing.

The aroma is coffee and roasted barley with hints of chocolate and caramel.

The flavor is smooth and creamy coffee with a nice roasty character. Notes of chocolate and caramel and a smooth creamy milky sweetness round out this beer to make it very well balanced. Medium/full bodied and very creamy, low carbonation and very easy to drink.

Overall, this is a great example of the style.

 

Appearance - Ghe beer poured a deep black with small bubbles toppling the pour. Carbonation was very visible.

Smell - The nose was like fresh cold pressed coffee.

Taste - Aside from the change in feel, this was Cup a Jos as I remember it. Smooth coffee with an earthy presence gave a awake up call. The sweetness was mild, it case there are others who still prefer their coffee black.

Mouthfeel - I’m not sure this beer needed the nitro treatment. It was already very smooth.

Overall - I might prefer the non-nitro version

This beer far exceeded my expectations of how dark it was going to be coming out of the can! Has a large overly dark caramel head. Smells of roasted coffee and tastes just like it. It was missing the sweetness but it was still delicious.

 

This is a wonderful coffee stout, very coffee forward in taste, not so much in smell. It is labeled as a nitro, tho nitro characteristics are not present...there is very little creaminess outside of faint milk sugars. It pours jet black and is visually beautiful, there is lacing from the diminished head stuck on the sides of the glass. Overall it is a delicious representation of the style minus the nitro part, I will buy this again. on an aside, the ABV is not indicated anywhere on the cardboard six pack container or on the cans themselves.

I'm not sure where the "nitro" comes in, as there's no widget, but there is a slight creaminess to the mouthfeel which evokes a bit of "hand-pulled" character. An obvious comparison would be Guinness Nitro Cold Brew (which is a widget beer). Both beers have a strong coffee aroma and flavor (although the Guinness is a bit more pronounced) and both are great choices for those who essentially want a slightly carbonated coffee with a bit of a kick, but don't want to pour whiskey or another "enhancement" into their brew (or go the high ABV BBA route, where there are many excellent choices better suited to a long-term snifter experience).

Anyway, quite an impressive, creamy head with decent retention and a well-balanced flavor that's far from cloying (I wouldn't mind a bit more mouthfeel and intensity, but it has a clean finish). Overall, a nice coffee stout and even quaffable, but at 7.2 ABV (compared to Nitro Cold Brew's 4.0), it's not exactly a session beer. Fortunately, it holds up well in the glass (I used a snifter).

 

 

 

This one is coffee overload, and that’s just how I love my stouts. It’s been YEARS since I’ve had the regular version, and it tastes just as good as I remember, maybe better. Roasted coffee for days.

I need to dock this some points in the mouthfeel arena though, as it is nowhere near as creamy as other nitro stouts I’ve had. It definitely looks the part though. Great beer.