Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout - Elysian Brewing Company

IllNate

British Columbia (Canada)

3.58/5  rDev -8.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours black with brown highlights and a good helping of tan/brown head. Good retention. Aroma is big on coffee, I think mostly from the coffee, but also complemented by the dark roast malt. Quite a bit of lactose in the nose as well and a small helping of hop. Taste follows with big coffee and dark roasts. Sweetness there too though and a balancing bitterness. Mouthfeel is smooth yet bitter, both coffee and hop I suspect. Overall a great beer. My first milk stout.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 02:42:35 | More by IllNate

Dactrius

Wisconsin

4/5  rDev +2.6%

05-05-2013 18:30:35 | More by Dactrius

basileorri

California

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

04-17-2013 20:31:27 | More by basileorri

BAsbill

California

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

04-10-2013 20:57:14 | More by BAsbill

pmarlowe

California

4/5  rDev +2.6%

03-13-2013 04:56:31 | More by pmarlowe

tswater

Colorado

4.25/5  rDev +9%

02-11-2013 04:01:35 | More by tswater

FondueVoodoo

British Columbia (Canada)

3.76/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

A: Deepest brown with direct light only breaking down 1/2 inch - with a slightly cloudy or murky clarity. Creamy tan head billowed up 1 finger and settles down leaving a very slight lacing.

S: This might seem impossible however it smells like coffee spiked with coffee mocha liqueur. Some toasted malts and bitter coco, notably missing a hops note.

T: Coffee coffee coffee - delivered as advertised, some deep toasty malts and unsweetened coco. The lactose taste is just there and lends to a sweetness that improve the deeply roasted malts. I could start my day with this beer.

M: On first sip I found myself feeling as though I was drinking a coffee pop/soda, or a carbonated drip coffee. It's highly carbonated and somewhat thin for a stout.

O: This could be an excellent brew if the mouthfeel offered a richer experience on par with the scent and the taste. Overall, still enjoyable and might still reach for it with my eggs benny.

Serving type: bottle

02-02-2013 05:35:09 | More by FondueVoodoo

Cjtytler

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

01-06-2013 22:49:03 | More by Cjtytler

caseyscarb

4.5/5  rDev +15.4%

01-05-2013 07:47:49 | More by caseyscarb

jbarra101

Texas

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

12-30-2012 22:11:07 | More by jbarra101

THANAT0PSIS

Wisconsin

3.43/5  rDev -12.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Elysian Split Shot

Appearance: Elysian’s milk stout pours a Coca-Cola looking dark brown/black color, minus the head (which is minimal and khaki colored) and obvious carbonation. There are alcohol legs here, which is shocking considering the low ABV. The lacing is pretty average and has decent retention on the glass. Overall, this looks like a pretty basic stout.

Aroma: The aroma is very one-note: coffee, coffee, and more coffee. There is a nice roasted quality there, as expected, along with a slight sweetness from the lactose. Dark fruits are suggested, but are not prominent at all. There are also suggestions of cocoa beans and baker’s chocolate.

Taste: The taste mostly follows the nose, minus a lot of what little complexity there was to begin with. This basically tastes like carbonated, creamed coffee. There is very little sweetness, a nice creaminess, and coffee bitterness, but not much else. There just is not enough going on here to really give it anything more than slightly above average marks.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is far too prominent to mesh with the rest of the flavors. It just feels odd to have carbonated coffee. There mouthfeel is too thin, as well. A higher ABV would probably help this one out a lot, mixed with a more syrupy, stout feel. The lactose is entirely absent here, which usually lends a desirable, creamy texture. Alas, the palate is entirely a miss for this beer. It just does not match the style, and really ruins what good things this beer has going on.

Overall: This beer has a lot of great potential, but it is mostly squandered. The aroma and taste match up well, but are too simplistic to really make for a great beer. This beer is merely good, before factoring in the mouthfeel. It ends up just being a typical, average stout in the end. 13.5/20

Serving type: bottle

12-27-2012 06:58:15 | More by THANAT0PSIS

DonFrap

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev +2.6%

12-23-2012 06:42:10 | More by DonFrap

Jasonrm72

Colorado

4.25/5  rDev +9%

11-30-2012 01:00:42 | More by Jasonrm72

LampertLand

British Columbia (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Elysian's "Split Shot" Espresso Milk Stout @ 5.6% , served from a 650 ml bottle ,
A-pour is a very dark brown with a small quick tan head leaving no lace along the stein
S-Seattle based 'Lighthouse Coffee" , not at all overpowering , mellow
T-smooth , espresso/coffee tasting , not as bitter as I was expecting
MF-nice carbonation , ok body , so smooth on the palate
Ov-for a Seattle based coffee/beer I'm surprised at how mellow the espresso smell & taste is , not surprised by the overall product , a worthy choice as official beer of "2012 Seattle Beer Week"

cheers LampertLand

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2012 04:17:41 | More by LampertLand

Darkmagus82

Montana

3.78/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Served on tap in a 10 oz chalice glass

Appearance – The beer is served a deep-deep brown nearly black color. When served there was a big brown head on the brew that faded over a moderate amount of time to give a light level of lacing.

Smell – The aroma is of a sweet coffee smell mixed with a good dose of milk chocolate. Behind these aromas is a roasted malt and light vanilla smell.

Taste- The taste begins with a roasted malt and coffee flavor. Upfront it also has some sweet chocolate flavors as well. These sweeter flavors dwindle as the taste advances with the chocolate becoming more bitter and the flavors of coffee/espresso getting stronger. While near the end a quite sweet lactose taste comes to the tongue making the beer on the sweeter side and balancing out the bitter with more sweetness. In the end the flavors when mixed together leave a mocha cappuccino flavor on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the creamier side with a carbonation level that is rather average. The creamier body is very nice for the flavors of the beer and really accentuates the dark chocolate, coffee and roasted flavors.

Overall – A pretty tasty stout. With it not being too heavy, it having a creamier feel and nice sweeter finish it is quite pleasant to drink and a nice beer to sip after a meal.

Serving type: on-tap

11-11-2012 23:04:07 | More by Darkmagus82

woemad

Washington

3.78/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

22oz. bomber purchased at Huckleberry’s in Spokane for $5.99. There’s a logo promoting the 2012 Seattle Beer Week on the lower left portion of the label, which is fitting as this was the official beer of said celebration. According to the fine print, this was brewed with coffee from a Seattle roaster called Lighthouse.

Poured a very dark brown color that gave up nothing when held up to light. Small, mocha-colored head that dropped quickly, leaving a foam collar.

Roasty, coffeeish aroma. Pretty much what I expect whenever I sniff a porter, but I tend to expect a little more complex an aroma from a stout, coffee stout or not.

The taste is a little more complex than the smell. Bitter, dark roast coffee and sweet chocolate flavors vie with one another. There are acidic notes throughout, with things ending on a dry and ever so slightly sour milk note. If it were possible, I’d give this a 3.75 instead of a 4.

The body is somewhere between medium and full. The mouthfeel is velvety and sticky.

A good, not great coffee stout. The coffee and milk stout flavors are fairly well balanced, but the dry, sour aftertaste keeps it a one and done bottle, not something I’d want to session.

Serving type: bottle

11-11-2012 22:13:21 | More by woemad

thefullpython

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

11-11-2012 01:35:07 | More by thefullpython

CJS

Florida

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

11-08-2012 06:21:51 | More by CJS

cosmonick

Indiana

4.25/5  rDev +9%

11-04-2012 15:19:43 | More by cosmonick

dtx00

Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev -10.3%

10-28-2012 22:57:26 | More by dtx00

chickenm

British Columbia (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev -3.8%

10-28-2012 19:39:34 | More by chickenm

Jomolieri

Virginia

3.1/5  rDev -20.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

This is the beer that prompted me to write a review. For all the great beers I've had I haven't bothered because everyone else was already raving about them.

Elysian makes some outstanding beer but this just isn't one of them.

This beer is bursting with flavor but in ways that I just found all wrong. I couldn't figure out if I was drinking a beer or a coffee.

Part of the problem maybe that I know coffee. This beer tasted like burnt coffee. If you're a real coffee drinker you know the complexity coffee can have and I just got hung up on how strong the coffee flavor was but how burnt and undeveloped it was. I would never drink coffee that tasted like this so I found it a sad excuse to consider such a strong flavor of burnt quality to be acceptable because it was in a beer.

It did have a nice smoothness and a pleasing sweetness so I do think Elysian has some great stout making abilities but marrying it pleasingly with coffee didn't work out too well with this one.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 17:31:03 | More by Jomolieri

Mora2000

Texas

3.68/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The beer pours a dark brown color with a small tan head. The aroma is full of lactose and cream with some coffee notes. The flavor is full of chocolate and coffee notes, with some lactose thrown in. I also get a hint of roasted malt in the flavor. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 01:21:51 | More by Mora2000

imperialking

Illinois

4/5  rDev +2.6%

10-22-2012 18:36:17 | More by imperialking

robuncorked

4/5  rDev +2.6%

10-18-2012 21:29:13 | More by robuncorked