Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Stout
Ibaraki, Japan

Pours thick and black with a huge off tan head. Creamy dry fresh ground coffee aroma. Thick roasted malt and coffee taste. Very smooth and tasty.

1/12/2008: Hitachino Espresso Stout pours out in a thick stream of near black coffee color. There is an average-sized creamy brown head that doesn’t disapear quickly (or really at all for that matter). Smells of fresh, black dirt mixed with coffee. There are some notes of bittersweet chocolate as well. The flavor is dense with coffee, roasted malts, and bitter chocolate (almost ike unsweetened Baker’s Chocolate). It is also dry and earthy with some old, used coffee ground type flavor coming through just before the bitter, dark chocolate finish. The palate of this medium-full to full-bodied beer is thick and creamy. It kind of has the density and texture of heavy whipping cream. Overall this beer is good and solid, but not great. I would probably never pick-up another bottle of this again.

11.2 fl.oz. bottle (7.5% alc./vol.) from River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. Rating #143 for this beer...

Had this bottle. Poured very thick and dark. Sort of similar to an Expedition, but not quite as dark. Really sour coffee flavors. A bit of malt in there as well. A little too thin texture with the sour taste. Prepare the palate for this one.

11.2 oz bottle. Ebony; a stiff pour produces a bubbly crema head that settles with chunky lacing. Nose is salty black licorice and musty coffee beans. Silky sipping with soft peel carb that lightly tickles the tongue. Taste is surprisingly fruity; earthy plums and orange pith. Hints of vanilla with coffee drying. Long, saturated finish with mild sour. A most interesting brew.

Dark black and thick, minimal head. No doubt this beer is espresso as advertised. Big coffee flavors are prominent, with a tiny bit of sweetness in the background. Nice hop balance at the end to dry it out. This brewery doesn’t play, they always come with some solid beer. This is no exception. If you’re a coffee geek as I am, this is your beer.

Pours a dark tar like color with a thin coating of tan head. Smell is of burnt sugars, dark chocolate and espresso grounds. Taste is smoky with flavors of dark dark chocolate and espresso with a nutty sweetness mixed in. A bitter bite at the end. Like drinking a very very smooth cup of strong coffee.

purchased at 99 bottles in federal way, washington. pour is outstanding, thick black with a medium size chocolate mousse head, very nice lacing. smell is of bakers chocolate, espresso, toffee, roasted almonds, some peanut brittle, wee bit of smoke in the background. taste is thick, milk chocolate, a little smokiness, some nuts, on the sweet side, espresso, slight bitter finish. overall a great beer!!!

Oily black in color. Dense and thin tan head. Smokey and roasty. Lots of espresso in the aroma. Dense and challenging with it’s overly bitter coffee flavor. A faint sourness at the finish. A pleasure to drink.