Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout - Elysian Brewing Company

beertunes

Washington

2.53/5  rDev -35.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

My usual disclaimer: I don't drink coffee and I don't like coffee. But I do like beer and give coffee beers a fair shot. Served in straight pint glass. Poured the expected black with just a thin cap of tan head that had zero retention or lacing.

I could smell the coffee even as the bartender was pouring the beer. when he handed it across the bar, the only aroma was coffee. No grains, no malt, no yeast, no spice, no beer aspects at all in the aroma. The flavor was the same, all coffee, no beer. Maybe this is what the brewers were shooting for, so I'm not giving the flavor profile the lower score I think it deserves.

The body was average for a milk stout, smooth and a bit creamy. Drinkability will, obviously, depend on your taste for coffee. If you love the stuff, you will love this beer. Overall, you could get one of these instead of an iced coffee at Starbucks and be just as satisfied. I don't mind roasted notes in beer, and if there is a hint of coffee to complement the the malts and grain in a beer, that's acceptable. But when the adjunct in a beer so completely overpowers the basic "Beeriness" of a beer, that beer has gone off the rails. I cannot recommend this beer to the non-coffee lover.

Serving type: on-tap

06-11-2012 20:10:03 | More by beertunes