Wooden Robot Brewery Goodmorning Vietnam

This Coffee Vanilla Blonde Ale is Good Morning Vietnam from Wooden Robot Brewery here in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is only purchased from the Wooden Robot Brewery (https://woodenrobotbrewery.com) in a 12 ounce 6-pack or a 32 ounce Crowler (can growler). I haven’t seen this for sale anywhere else. This beer has Elderly Coffee Roaster’s Ethiopian coffee, Madagascar vanilla, and oats, then age in a stainless tank. This beer is 5% ABV. This beer pours a deeper/dirty blonde with a two finger semi-quick fading head or white. The aroma is vanilla sweetness, light coffee roast and malts. The flavor is big on vanilla with some coffee mixed in and the malts is barley there. This has light vanilla coffee flavors. The mouthfeel is light. This beer has a malted vanillla roasted finish and a light coffee/vanilla aftertaste that does linger. This is one of my favorite coffee beer or coffee blondes. I give this a A+. Good Morning Vietnam is a beer that I highly recommend. It is good with doughnuts or smilar type sweets/breakfast. It has just the right amount of coffee and vanilla with out a high ABV. You should be drink this beer from Wooden Robot Brewery. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

New Holland Brewing Dragon’s Milk Reserve Bourbon Barrel-Age Coffee Chocolate Stout

Dragon’s Milk started as its own beer, then became the name of New Holland Brewing’s reserve series of stouts. This is Bourbon Barrel-Age Coffee Chocolate Stout. This stout is 11% ABV with Madcap Bolt Coffee. Bolt is the type of strong roast from Madcap Coffee, Grand Rapids, Michigan, not far from Holland, Michigan, where New Holland Brewing is located. This stout pours thick black with a two-finger milk chocolate colored head. The aroma is roasted coffee, chocolate, bitterness, and light bourbon. The flavor is roasted strong coffee, dark chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, and boozy. This has a full feeling in the mouth. The stout has a bourbon and chocolate coffee finish with a slight bitter dark chocolate boozy aftertaste. This is an okay bourbon barrel-aged stout. I would give the lowest C-. It is just too much strong coffee with not enough chocolate. But I have had much worse. Would I recommend this? I would halfway, but you have to like big coffee, chocolate, bourbon barrel-aged stouts. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Boonshine Brewing Co. Hatchet Coffee Porter

This Coffee Porter, made with molasses, milk sugar, Guatemalan San Luis, and El Valcano Modelo coffee beans from local Hatchet Coffee, is Boonshine Brewing Co. Hatchet Coffee Porter. This Porter is brewed in Boone and is 6% ABV. This porter pours a deep dark brown with a two-finger beige head that slowly fades. The aroma is sweeter with milk, coffee, roasted notes, and some malty aromas. The flavor is light cocoa and milk sweetness with a light bitterness from the coffee flavors and a bit of malt flavor. This has a medium feel in the mouth. Then you get a roasted coffee finish and an aftertaste of malt, coffee, and hints of roasted sweetness. This is a good coffee porter that I think is an A+. It is not a heavy beer, nor is the flavor overwhelming on your tastebuds. It is well-balanced and one that you should check out! Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Burial Beer Co. Slough Water American Porter with Coffee

I have another Burial Beer Co. Beer. This one is Slough Water coming in at 5.9% ABV. This is an American Porter with coffee. This beer has barley, oats, triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), and roasted malts. This porter is conditioned on Methodical Coffee’s Guatemalan Lxlam, Costa Rican La Pastora beans. This dark beer pours a black color with a two-finger beige head. The aroma is bitter, sweet, coffee, roasted, and malty. The beer’s flavor is close to its own aroma. It’s bittersweet, malted, roasted coffee with a bit of molasses. This beer has a full feeling in your mouth. This porter has a bitter coffee-roasted finish. That leads to a faint bittersweet aftertaste. This Burial Beer Co. Slough Water is an A. It isn’t overpowering or thick. It has a good balance of tasty flavors. If you like dark beers with coffee then this is your beer. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Devils Logic #8 Oatmeal Coffee Stout

This local Devil’s Logic Brewing (Charlotte, North Carolina) beer is #8 Oatmeal Coffee Stout. This stout is 5.4%. Devil’s Logic conditions this beer on Enderly Coffee Company’s Brazilian roast. This beer pours a black color with a steady two-finger tan head. The aroma is sweet with chocolate, malty, and a roasted coffee smell. The taste is sweet, roasted coffee, chocolate, malted, and oatmeal. This dark stout has a medium body. Then this beer finishes with a sweet roasted chocolate flavor. The aftertaste is roasted chocolate coffee. This beer is not as full on with the flavors but they are good. I give #8 Oatmeal Coffee Stout a B-. The flavors are medium and not as strong as other beers like this one. I’d still recommend it for the fact that it is good and not so big on the ABV. It is well-balanced in flavor. Please stay safe, be kind to each other, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

NoDa Brewing Company Purely Intentional Breakfast Stout

This beer is Purely Intentional Breakfast Stout by NoDa Brewing Company. This beer uses local Pure Intentions Coffee. This beer is 6.4% ABV. This Stout pours a thick dark black color with a one and a half finger beige head. There is some beige around the edges after the head fades. The aroma is roasted coffee and bitter coffee. The flavor is creamy, roasted coffee, bitter coffee, and a little malted noted. The mouthfeel is full, smooth and coats the mouth. Then it comes to a nice bitter-roasted coffee finish. Then you get an aftertaste of bitter coffee with some creaminess. This beer was not so terrible, but I found the bitter notes from the coffee to dominate the flavor a bit. So I would give Purely Intentional Breakfast Stout a B-. The creamy roasted flavor did help. I don’t think this is terrible tasting, but I would not go back to this again for a while. Please stay safe, be kind to everyone, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Kona Brewing Co. Pipeline

Kona Pipeline is a porter made with whole-bean Hawaiian Kona Coffee. It is 5.3% ABV. This beer is from the Kona Brewing Co. in Hawaii. But it was brewed in Portland, Oregon. This Pipeline has limited availability. The beer pours a deep dark black with a one-and-a-half-finger beige head. The aroma is roasted coffee, with some bitterness and some licorice-like notes. The flavor is not dissimilar to its smell. There is a roasted dark coffee flavor, bitter notes, and licorice-like flavors. The mouthfeel is full and does coat your tongue some. Then you come to a roasted semi-dry finish. Then you get a chocolate coffee bean aftertaste with mild roasted notes. This Pipeline porter is a good beer that isn’t high in alcohol. I would say this porter is an A-. The overall flavor is bold enough but could be a tiny bit more. That is the only negative I have towards this beer. I highly recommend Pipeline if you are into this type of beer. It has a good level of ABV. It’s not overly heavy. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Birdsong Brewing Co. Mexicali Stout

I have had this beer before. I just haven’t reviewed it. This beer, Birdsong Brewing Co. Mexicali Stout, 5.9% ABV from right here in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s made with habaneros (small HOT orange peppers), cacao nibs, and local Central Coffee. I like a spicy coffee stout, so I think this could be good. This stout pours a rich black color with a two-and-a-half head of beige creamy that is very slow to fade into beautiful lacing. The aroma is of roasted coffee, sweetness, and some nice spiciness. The flavor is spicy at first, then comes the roasted coffee, and then there is some sweetness. The mouthfeel is full. This beer finish with a spicy coffee roast flavor. Then it has an aftertaste of the vegetal habanero and the spicy heat of said pepper. This stout is a great beer. The coffee flavor works well with the habanero spice. I give Birdsong Brewing Co. Mexicali Stout an A+. I a good beer from a good brewery. This stout is not a beer that when finishing a pint, you can’t go for another. I could have two pints, maybe two and a half. I highly recommended Birdsong Brewing Co. Mexicali Stout. Please be kind, stay safe, and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Lenny Boy Brewing Co. Ground Up Coffee Milk Stout.

This beer brewed in Charlotte, North Carolina Counter Culture Coffee from Durham North Carolina, Lenny Boy Brewing Co. Ground Up Coffee Milk Stout, 5.3% ABV. This stout pours a deep black color with a thin one finger beige head that quickly scatters. The aroma is roasted and malty with some slight sweet chocolate, toffee, and bits of caramel. Ground Up has a similar flavor as the aroma. There are roasted flavors with faint but sweet chocolate, caramel, and light toffee with a little bit of creaminess. Then this coffee Milk Stout finishes thin with a lingering aftertaste of what’s left of the initial flavors, and the mouthfeel is medium. All the flavors are not as strong feeling at best but not very bad. Overall, Lenny Boy Brewing Co. Ground Up Coffee Milk Stout is not the worst beer I’ve had when it comes to coffee Milk Stout, and I give it a C+. It needs to be bolder in flavor with a creamier texture and flavor, but it is only 5.3% ABV and could be higher to help the flavors. But like I said, this is not the worst I’ve had. Please stay safe and enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Throwback Thursday: Left Hand Brewing Co. Hard Wired Nitro Coffee Porter

Originally posted on March 13th, 2016.

Coffee for a long while has been a popular ingredient in beer brew, so much so that it has become its sub-style within some styles of beer, like Porter, Stouts, Browns, and even a few blondes and IPAs have been infused with coffee. Some brewers collaborate with a coffee roaster to brew a beer. Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont Colorado brewers this, Hard Wired Nitro Coffee Porter, 6.0% ABV. I have received this beer from Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com) Now you’re asking yourself what is the nitro in this Porter? Well, nitro or Nitrogen is a transparent and odorless gas. When applied with beer during the brewing process it allows for a draft like taste and appearance to beer a beer without using a widget in the can or bottle. This can give a creamier and tighter head to beer, similar to a draft beer. Left Hand does brew Hard Wired without said Nitro, and they recommend that you pour hard with this and all their nitro beers. Hard Wired pours a black color with a creamy three-finger tight beige head that looks like coffee ice cream. Lots of thick lacing is left behind. When you pour this beer you can see the Nitrogen at work cascading down like falling snow. The aroma is of freshly ground and brewed coffee with hints of chocolate. The taste is so smooth with a nice roasted smooth chocolate flavor that makes this taste like a Mocha Coffee. I would say this bee is almost an easy drinker. The mouthfeel is medium to almost full but rich with a creamy flavor. Hard Wired nitro has a nice smooth sweeter finish with an after taste of chocolate and Mocha coffee flavor. Man, this Porter is outstanding. I would have this over and over again, and would highly recommend Hard Wired Nitro Coffee Porter. So with that said, I give this beer an A+. This is one heck of a great beer and the nitro is a neat and very delicious addition to a good solid coffee Porter! Go try it! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!