Sunday 18 January 2015

Narragansett Autocrat Coffee Milk Stout


Over the holidays I tried the first time release of Naragansett Autocrat Coffee Milk Stout.


Growing up near Rhode Island, I drank a fair amount of Autocrat Coffee Milk and still do, on occasion. Now Coffee Syrup is sweet and has just a slight hint of coffee taste to it. It lacks the burnt and smokey character that most coffee I've had contains*. But it also lacks the rich aroma that fresh ground coffee has.

Given that as my experience with Autocrat I was expecting a sweet malty beer with just a hint of coffee flavor.

The above is not what this beer is. Instead what I got was the distillation of that Autocrat Coffee Syrup's coffee flavor. It has a stronger bitter character with a slight coffee nose mellowed by the thickness I expect from a milk stout. Now, when I say this beer is bitter it isn't exceptionally strong but it is the bitter of unsweetened or mildly sweetened coffee.

While this beer isn't what I expected, that is because of my interactions with Autocrat Coffee Syrup, it is a good coffee milk stout. I've had it several times since the holidays and I'm still pleased with it. Some of that is novelty and some of it is that it is a good beer for the price. At the time of writing the beer has scored a respectable 85 on BeerAdvocate.

Overall it is a serviceable to good Coffee Milk Stout. It isn't the best in the world but it is also, around me, easily found and that matters, While I enjoy limited releases and beers that are hard to find I cannot spend that much time tracking down rare releases. But I think that might be a topic for another post.

*I'm not much of a coffee drinker and while I like the flavor in beer I'm not a conisure of the original drink. Come to think of it I don't really enjoy many, possibly any, hot liquids.

Introduction and Reason for Creation

A few years ago, I lost my sense of smell. At the time I was a fan of craft beer and was really starting to develop my vocabulary and understanding of that world. Then it all slipped away as I lost my sense of smell.

Now my sense of smell is returning and I want to share what I know and have learned and am interested in with anyone that will listen. So begin my time manning "The Loquacious Drinker". I hope it doesn't bore and that people learn from it and teach me while I start on developing my vocabulary, my sense of taste, smell, and understanding of what makes delicious and entertaining beverages.