Coffee Infused Imperial Stout Trooper

Coffee Infused Imperial Stout Trooper (Cask)
1 draught pint, $8.75, 8.5% ABV

Purchased at Prime 16, New Haven

coffeSo you have one of the best imperial stouts in the land: New England Brewing’s Imperial Stout Trooper. People go bonkers for it. Heck, I have several in my basement just because I can. (My review here.)

But what do you do to top that? First, you age a bunch of it in bourbon barrels from Willett Distillery in Kentucky and have a super limited release of Barrel Aged IST. (My review here.) People go nutso bonkers for it. I do not have any of this in my basement… or maybe I do and don’t want anyone breaking in to steal it.

But that’s not enough. The annual Prime 16 Tap Takeover event looms at the end of January so you dream up two casked IST’s for the very lucky very few to enjoy.

Up first with a late-afternoon release time: The coffee infused IST. (The picture here is indeed from the bathroom because, well, because I’m 40 and the thought of snapping pictures in public of something as silly as a pint of beer still annoys the crap out of me.)

I was very much looking forward to this one and was even sure to sort of “pre-order” it a minute or two before it was released. (The timing of these things is not to be messed with, trust me.)

It was poured in what I felt was a rather odd glass. Sort of like a large version of a cafeteria juice glass for some reason. Not that there’s really a specific porter glass… but still.

I had just finished a Fuzzy Baby Ducks IPA (my review here) before my coffee IST. I mention this because I think it affected my first few sips of the stout.

The full blast of the Fuzzy Baby’s citra hops still lingered on my tongue and perhaps made the roasty, malty, coffee blast a bit too much to handle. I turned to the guy next to me (who was Instagramming and tweeting about his beer) and said, “Whoa man. Too much coffee.”

I love coffee. I drink it every day. I like it strong and with only one sugar. But man, this beer was so super-coffee, I think the stimulant qualities of the casked beans overcame the depressive qualities of the 8.5% imperial stout.

This was a VERY coffee-forward stout.

I gave it some time to breathe before going in again. Nope, still super coffee.

Of course, it was still a good beer. A great beer, even. Reading other reviews of this particular rarity tells me that people love it – the more coffee taste and aroma the better. But come on y’all. I bet you could blindfold someone who drinks coffee but not alcohol and they’d think this was just iced coffee.

No? I’m stretching it? Meet up with me at Prime 16 next year and we’ll talk about it. (Of course, maybe NEBCO will heed this review and throw a few less beans in the cask next year.)

Because I’m THAT influential.

sig
Heaven

Overall Rating: B
Rating vs. Similar style: n/a

Beer Advocate’s Reviews of the Coffee IST
New England Brewing Company
NEBCO’s facebook page
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