Glass: English pint
Appearance: Black with a mahogany hue at the base held up to the light. A dark tan head forms roughly a finger width at best and then slowly fades leaving just a bubbly rim with lacing already evident. Plenty of carbonation seen sizzling in the glass on close inspection.
Aroma: All the features of a typical coffee stout..espresso, roasted malts, chocolate alongside liquorice, leather, molasses, vegemite yeast, some toffee, and possibly earthy hops. Hard to distinctly observe the hop due to the overall aroma as explained above. It’s very similar to the Founders Breakfast Stout.
Flavour: Initial front palate is espresso coffee, alongside bitterness from dark chocolate, roasted malt caramels, toffee, some dark fruits, raisin, booze. It’s so damn smooth though. Just glides down with a slightly oily or velvety characteristic..obviously the oatmeal showing up here. Backpalate lingers with a slightly fruity and drying element to it. Definite hop involvement here.
Mouthfeel: Mild to moderate carbonation felt around the tonsils. Slightly slick and velvety. Alc vol here of 7.5% makes it very quaffable as the booze is so welll hidden..just feels more like a tingle on the tonsils. No IBU started. Great length of coffee/hop bitterness and a drying out on the palate.
Overall: We recently returned from our USA beer trip and Mikkeller in San Diego was a highlight. We are fairly certain this was the drop that was absolutely marvellous off tap but admittedly we were legless by that time. Maybe not as good out of the bottle but very tasty indeed. Could easily have for breakfast.