Midnight Sun Brewtality

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: European Strong Lager
Anchorage, Alaska USA

22 oz. bottle - thanks frank!! pours dark brown and clear with foamy tan head fading quickly; rich aromas of chocolate, caramel and tons of sweet, milky coffee; drinks with a faint alcohol burn and a mind bending amount of sweet coffee; no abrasiveness or over roast from the coffee in any way, but rather an extreme level of sweetness from the lagering; so much so that it results in an almost bourbony flavor; super dry, rich and malty, yet remains quite thin in overall texture; easily one of the top coffee beers I’ve had; wow, just a killer brew and one of my fav midnight sun offerings to date; so glad to hear that a second batch is being brewed this winter!!!!!!

Update 10/16/09: bomber - batch 1; knowing the new batch is almost ready, I cracked this beast without any reservations; forget exactly when released, but this has at least 8 months on it and 4 months since originally tried; not very much age I’d admit, but I couldn’t wait; dense brown, thin tan head; syrupy chocolate, sweet espresso, dark candy malt, almost banana like notes from the booze; this one really goes beyond coffee; such smooth sweetness; cookies, chocolate, vanilla; flavors have slightly chilled making the booze a little more obvious; texture also slightly thinned out; damn good stuff; batch two is out soon :)

Dark brown pour. Loads of coffee in the aroma along with some light cocoa notes. Flavor has a wonderful chocolate covered coffee bean and some good roast bitterness. Great stuff.

Fred Fest 2009 – Portland, OR
Aroma: Huge aroma coffee, and smoke.
Appearance: Black in color, Clear with a thin head.
Flavor: This was one of the best beers in years. The flavor was huge and the smoke and coffee where thick and smooth.
Palate: Dry coffee/smokey finish, with a Good Mouthfeel.
Overall: I loved this beer I will seek this and drink many more time in my life. AWESOME.

Black with a viscous tan head. Massive coffee mocha black malt aromas. Smooth, full body. Rich, hearty flavors of espresso with sweet, dark chocolate lactose and some drying blackened malts. Lingering finish is freshly spent coffee grains. Fucking breakfast of champions. Awesome !

Bottle. Pours a dark brune body with an off white head. Dark roast y coffee with a big etoh warming. Chocolate malts, caramel and a very nice fresh roasted character. Awesome coffee brew.

Draft at Fredfest 09 at Hair of the Dog. Gorgeous deep black with rubied ebony highlights in the corners. Burnt tan, fizzy head that falls quickly away to not much. Humongous coffee nose, rich and bright and acidic, carrying over some roasty malt. Luscious medium creamy body, soft carb, plenty of thickness to it but not sticky or overwhelming (beautifully balanced yeast). Coffee swirls against a great malt base, hops stay out of the way, and a nice sweet coffee classic is born. For you coffee-bomb lovers, this should be a new standard.

Cheers to tpd975 for cracking this monster open. pours black, beige/mocha head. aroma is just insane in coffee, lost of roasted and toasted malts, full coffee. amazingly, first thing that came to mind was the older version of kbs. flavor, lots and lots of good coffee/espresso, nothing adding to the acidic profile some coffee tend to yield. appeared more as a stout than schwarz. light chocolate finish, warming abv. This is one helluva coffee beer.

Big thanks to Ira for this bomber, poured into a tulip. This one comes out of the bottles dark brown but looks pretty close to black in the glass. The head is big and tan, receding fairly quickly and leaving decent lacing. The aroma is massive with the roasted espresso dominating from start to finish. There are hints of sweet malts in the background, but honestly it’s all about the espresso. The taste dials back the espresso just a bit. It’s still there but there is a lot more sweetness than the aroma would suggest. Plenty of sweet malts forming a backbone with some chocolate sweetness and even a bit of molasses in the finish balancing the espresso bitterness. The mouthfeel is on the fuller side of things for the style and thick on the palate with soft carbonation just coating the mouth completely. Honestly, this one really blew me away. It’s certainly the most original and probably the best schwarzbier I’ve had. Just another great beer from Midnight Sun and I’m really excited about the new series.