Coffee and beer are two of the building blocks of civilization. For many of us, life without these two essential fluids would be unimaginable. And if they’re both so satisfying separately, imagine what they would be like together? Over the year, craft brewers have teamed up with coffee producers to seek to find that nirvana.
Our Beer of the Week is fruit of one of those efforts, Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Cappuccino Stout:
Big, Dark and Scary Imperial-esque Stout Brewed With Plenty of Dark Malts and Roast Barley And Loads of Sebastopol’s Hardcore Coffee for Deep Roasty Flavors and that Extra Krunk.
22oz brown bottle. Familiar Lagunitas label with tan background and the mascot mutt who appears often on their limited release beers. Goes for $4.99 a pop.
ALCOHOL BY VOLUME: 9.0%
COLOR (0-2): Dark black. 2
AROMA (0-2): Malty with a hint of vanilla. Pretty light. 1
HEAD (0-2): Off white color. Minimal volume which fades pretty quick. Laces the glass nicely. 2
TASTE (0-5): Rich roasted malt flavors up front with a bitter coffee bite at the end. A little nutty and a hint of chocolate as well. Surprisingly smooth with a thinner mouthfeel that’s also somewhat creamy. Medium bodied and fairly drinkable. You don’t notice the alcohol at all. 4
AFTERTASTE (0-2): Lingers very nicely. 2
OVERALL (0-6): A well-balanced and ultimately satisfying mash up of stout and coffee. The flavors are strong and sharp, but play nicely together. Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout is a good choice to kick start your day or as a night cap to end it. 4
TOTAL SCORE (0-19): 15
