Stoutmaker.beer

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably have gathered that I do not,, or usually do not, like beers with things added to them.
Fruit beers.. no.
Bourbon.. um pass
Coffee.. uh uh.
Except maybe this one. Maybe.

Mornin Latte Imperial Coffee Milk Stout.
A big ol 9% milk stout from Toppling Goliath

From the name. I was was expecting a few things as I was watching this beer being poured.
First the Imperial part. Big roast aroma and especially taste. Second. Over powering coffee bitterness and maybe those celery notes from the coffee grounds. (Usually not from canned, this is more of coffee grounds and tapped beers) Third. That lactose taste all up in your face.

I was wrong on all counts.

It is a pretty beer though. Black. Very black. With a tan head that sticks around alot longer than I would have expected in a coffee beer.

But even just sitting there in front of me I am getting aromas of coco and…. Oatmeal? Maybe chocolate milk. Yea.. that’s it. Chocolate milk. But no roast. No hop. (I look at the can again to see if I grabbed the right one… I thought this was supposed to be a stout)

I’m not disappointed in the the aroma,, just caught off guard I think. It’s exactly the smell of a Monster Mocha or Starbucks iced coffee.

And it tastes the same as those aromas. Coco, chocolate milk and caramel. Caramel like those wrapped caramels. But again… No roast, or coffee for that matter. (Again I look to see if what I’m drinking is what it’s supposed to be)

The heavy body is so creamy, but not anywhere near as oily as it looks in the glass. I swear I nearly forgot I was supposed to be drinking a beer. Definitely forgot it was 9%. It’s a great drink that’s for sure. 
But it’s so far from being a stout, that I’m not sure I or they should be calling it a stout.

A stout should have roast. Somewhere. And a coffee stout should have coffee notes.. somewhere.
And just what is the threshold for going from being a beer with “stuff” in it, to a drink with a bit of beer in it? This is definitely the latter, and I am finding it hard to find any reason to call this a beer.

I like what ever this is tho. As I’m looking at Untappd, all I see is beer this, beer that, your beers, friends beers. So it appears I must have to rate this as a beer, not just as a drink.

So with that in mind, I give it a 1/5. This is not a beer to me. But it is fantastic. And would love to see this at the coffee shop.