“Mexican-Style Chocolate Stout with Coffee and Vanilla. Bring me my cape. Now, bring me my sombrero. Now. Bring me the coffee. The brave luchador has become quite the sensation, but without proper caffeination and hydration, he would be nothing. Mocha Sombrero takes our Mexican-Style Chocolate Stout recipe and alters it with additions of Coffee and Vanilla. Pronounced dark malt flavors mix with sweet vanilla notes for a full-bodied and approachable stout.”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Mat black with a big and frothy three finger head. It takes an age to break up and eventually settles to a thick overlay which makes a mess on the glass.

Aroma: One of the first things we’re loving is the heady wafts of freshly ground coffee beans. Big additions of fresh vanilla, roasted malt, spice and marijuana smoke (how do we know what that smells like we hear you say!?). What we’d like to know is how they manage to acquire that specific aroma! It’s interesting coz it somewhat fades as it settles.

Flavour: Nice and roasty upfront. Fresh coffee and vanilla is certainly front and centre. Layers of chocolate, gritty earthy-ness, subtle smoke, mixed spice (star anise, cinnamon, pepper) and burnt toffee giving rise to subtle toasted marshmallow late in the piece. The finish is roasty, sweet-ish, kind of bitter and spicy with coffee hanging on for days.

Mouthfeel: Rather lean for a stout of its size (7% ABV). It doesn’t affect the intensity of flavour one bit though. Medium body, mild-moderate Co2.

Overall: More than enough here to chew on. But is it memorable? Unfortunately not. Once we’re past the feature coffee and vanilla there isn’t a whole lot else backing up. Not bad but not great.