Coffee Smoke & Dagger - Jack's Abby Brewing

EgadBananas

Louisiana

3.99/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pours dark, mostly black, with some lighter edges with a tan finger of fluffy head. The aroma is definitely smoky, with some chocolate and roasted notes and mild coffee. Taste is smoky and meaty as well, with a nice coffee bitterness, chocolate and more roast and sweetness. The feel is somewhat light bodied, but a creamy texture and nice carbonation, finishes clean and crisp.

I recalled the regular smoke and dagger not having as much smoke, and there's not a LOT of coffee notes, but its still quite nice.

Serving type: bottle

01-19-2013 02:20:25 | More by EgadBananas

thagr81us

South Carolina

3.6/5  rDev -11.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Had this one at a recent tasting while Mississipping was in town! Served from bottle into a Mikkeller taster flute. Poured a massively dark red-brown with a half finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount slowly. Maintained excellent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, powdered chocolate, roasted malt, cream, and coffee. The flavor was of sweet malt, cream, coffee, milk chocolate, and earth. It had a light feel on the palate with medium-high carbonation. Overall this was a pretty decent brew. Based on the other brews from Jack’s Abby that I’ve had, they have the aroma aspect of beers absolutely nailed. Nice notes of sweetness and roastiness from the coffee going on kept this one really well balanced and enjoyable to the nose. The flavor had some of the same notes, but it just wasn’t as robust and well balanced as the aroma going on. Still definitely worth your time trying if you get the chance.

Serving type: bottle

12-31-2012 13:43:04 | More by thagr81us

BigCheese

Massachusetts

3.9/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Picked up a 500ml from brewery a few weeks ago, should be pretty fresh.

A: Pours black as night. Thin head that stays till the end, some lacing, must be the glass because head is thick.

S: Mix of smoked malts and fresh ground coffee, pleasant not overly pungent.

T: Bitter, some peaty smoked malts, some espresso and dark roasted espresso, dark chocolate notes. Some caramel and breads too. Still has that signature Jack Abbys clean lager yeast in finish.

M: Chewy, lowish carbonation, creamy, heavy body.

O: More smoke than coffee in this one. Nothing dominates too much though, and execution is quite good. A well crafted brew for sure that was certainly very interesting/unique. Definitely worth trying, though I certainly prefer jacks hoppy lagers.

Serving type: bottle

12-25-2012 18:48:16 | More by BigCheese

AutumnBeerLove

Massachusetts

4.08/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Yum yum. I love my coffee beers, maybe a bit more than most. Served from the bottle and poured into a pint glass. The appearance is a very dark brown to black with a minimal hazy, pale head. The aroma of coffee is overwhelming. It smells like a light to medium roast coffee was used. I'd guess an African blend. To me, the aroma is very close to a good iced coffee. Not much smokeyness to it, which could have been a bit more present if something like French roast were used.

The taste is a very strong coffee, and as noted, a lack on the smoke, other than a faint aftertaste. But a great lager still.

Mouthfeel is very carbonated, and the aftertaste dissipates quickly.

Overall, I really enjoy this beer for the style. It's one of the better coffee beers I've had and isn't an overpowering stout. Better than regular Smoke and Dagger too!

Serving type: bottle

12-10-2012 03:47:52 | More by AutumnBeerLove

jlindros

Massachusetts

4.08/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a smaller 1/2 finger bubbly off-white colored head that fades at a med pace, some lacing, over a dark molasses brown colored beer with slight ruby light streaming through.

Nose has some light smoke, little smoked malt but not really campfire, more like smoked cheese kinda smoke, plenty of coffee though, fresh coffee and just ground coffee beans, and a light nutty aroma in the background.

Taste brings more of the smoke, again smoked cheese like but this time a little smoldering log campfire but not much, then quickly into a light creamy malt with more nutty flavors, little caramel and hint syrupy sweetness, then into the coffee again. Coffee is more like fresh coffee grinds and a little fresh brewed as well. The nutty flavor and coffee blend well, esp with the light sweetness from the caramel. Bitterness cuts through towards the end, a grassy slight earthy hop comes in. The finish is still a bit sweet and sticky but somewhat drier, with lingering nutty flavors, little caramel and some coffee, but more of the smoke coming through and lingering for a while on the finish, as well as just a bit of a chewy slightly spicy hop.

Mouth is med bodied, little creamy, good carb.

Overall pretty good, nice coffee addition, the nutty malts are nice as well, coffee is fairly fresh with no burnt flavors, and the smoke is just in the right balance. A good beer but nothing to write home about.

Serving type: bottle

11-18-2012 17:09:45 | More by jlindros

tendermorsel

Massachusetts

3.93/5  rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Recent bottling purchased at the brewery.

Dark as night. Nice tight pillowy head.

Minimal coffee in the scent but quite present in the flavor. I don't get as much smoke in this as the regular S & D. Perhaps it was overpowered by the coffee. Great coffee flavor. A bit thin in the body compared other coffee beers.

Pretty drinkable. I should have bought more than one. Good but not great stuff. Nice change of pace from the regular S & D.

Serving type: bottle

11-13-2012 13:17:25 | More by tendermorsel

taez555

Massachusetts

3.95/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I’m conflicted about whether I should be labeling this a growler or cask. It’s filled fresh from a cask, into a growler, from the brewery. But it’s only available on cask, so…. It’s cask that just happened to transported via growler.

I’m not sure if this is the same as the first version they brewed of this a few months ago, but before they used Barismo Kenya Ruthangati coffee.

Pours a dark, but noticeably thin, black body with little to no head.
Nose has a very strong freshly spent coffee ground smell. I’m a fan of making coffee with a French press, and the smell is almost spot on to after you’ve made the coffee and the grounds that remain in the press. As it warms you really get a nice bouquet of coffees. It smells like a stronger, almost espresso type bean. If you just put your nose in a smell for a while the wave of different coffee smells really is quite amazing.

Taste is light to medium bodied and very easy drinking. The low carbonation of the cask and already thin body of black lager almost completely separate from the coffee flavor. There’s a huge fresh coffee ground flavor on one side, then a space, then a beautiful thin black lager on the other side. It’s kind of like middle school dances where the girls and boys stand on opposite of the gym. They don’t mix, and I don’t mean that in bad way, they’re independent of each other and stand by themselves, it’s really quite amazing. You taste coffee, then you taste dark malt, then you taste coffee, then you taste black lager, but you never taste them together. It’s crazy. It’s as if the parts co-exist, yet on different planes of existence. Lots of dark malt flavor, little touches of rauch malt. You really start to get just a hint of smoke in the finish. The coffee masks it a lot, compared to the regular version, but it’s there. It has a very slightly brick sort of touch. Ends with a lingering coffee and dark malt flavor.

What an interesting beer. I like the idea, coffee with the S&D makes perfect sense, but I almost wish it was bigger. The coffee doesn’t overpower, but the lager really doesn’t give it enough backbone. You almost need a double or imperial S&D to give it some more girth. Otherwise the clean lagered body with the coffee just makes it taste like watered down coffee. Great coffee, but watered down. It’s still a really great beer though, despite what might read like my negative review. Kudos to JA for pushing the envelope. Who makes a coffee rauchbier?

Serving type: cask

05-11-2012 22:08:08 | More by taez555