Espresso Love

12 ounce bottle from Whole Foods Ann Arbor Eisenhower, 3/23/16. Dark brown, thin tan head, good retention. Aroma of coffee, roasted malts, chocolate. The taste is roasted malts, chocolate, dark fruits, coffee. Thin bodied, creamy.

12 ounce bottle into snifter; no bottle dating, but is a recent release. Pours clear nearly opaque dark brown/black color with a small dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of dark roasted coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toasted dark bread, light dark fruit/smoke, light herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, coffee, and light earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of dark roasted coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toasted dark bread, light dark fruit/smoke, light herbal, and roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/roast bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toasted dark bread, light dark fruit/smoke, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, coffee, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great roasted bitter/sweet balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/silky, and slightly chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is a nice coffee stout. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, coffee, and light earthy hop flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. A nicely enjoyable offering.

Bottle. Charcoal and chocolate malt aroma. Dark brown with large tan head. Ash/chalk and mild chocolate malt flavor. Light body. Seems to leave a chalky coating after swallowing.

Dark brown coloured body, slightly muddy with absolutely no movement and a very sterile, placid enviornment - not too exciting here. Aroma of cherries, oak, alcohol, vanilla, mushrooms, meat and a bit of coffee - also not too exciting in the nose. Medium-bodied; Deep roasty and chocolate flavours with a lot of coffee, some light cherry and sweetness comes through as well as a touch of lactic flavours near the end. Aftertaste is pleasant, a little bit complex and having a touch of spice and oak along with the coffee overtones and sweetness. Overall, not a good looking or smelling beer but the flavours and aftertaste try to redeem the beer, although this isn’t a great beer by any means. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Beer Baron in Livonia, Michigan for US$2.39 on 30-April-2011 sampled at home in Washington after having a family reunion from my family in Michigan on 06-August-2011.

11th October 2008. GABF. Smooth soft palate. A little creamy coffee in with the dark malt. Nicely balanced. Minerally dry finish.

On tap at the MBG Summer Festival. Poured black with a brown head. Aroma was dominated by coffee notes and was quite one note. Flavor was full of coffee as well but somewhat one note.

Bottle. Chalky, uncomfortable body and a carbonation beyond lively drag this beer down. Dark brown pour with a nice tan head. The aroma is espresso and roasted malts with a hint of chocolate. The flavor was lightly to moderately sweet and moderately coffee bitter. Finishes with a bitterness and sourness. The medium body had a gritty texture. Uber-lively carbonation.

Bottle. An explosion of foam right out of the gates makes me wonder a little about whether this is spoiled or not. It covers a blackish body (and the floor of the kitchen) and releases coffee and roasty aromas. There is also a bit of smoke and peat. Flavor has a bit of a sourness to it (maybe not the freshest bottle?) but is not completely gone, and I kind of like the mixture of sour and stout notes. There is also a bit of a sweetness to it (vanilla & cream?). I think I’ll have to try this again later.

Dark brown body with ruddy highlights at the edges, thin tan head. Aroma is mostly coffee and roasted malts. Rather dry, plain body of coffee beans. Soft, rather thin. Light sweetness. Seems everyone has picked up on the "Breakfast Stout" theme, but Founders reigns supreme (and, I admit, I’m biased).