Rocky River Black Magic Coffee Stout

Multiple pints of this one during a long afternoon at RRBC! Deep dark opaque blackness. Thin head of beige. Aromas leap from the glass with espresso, cocoa, roast, and a surprising amount of yeast. Smooth feel. Coffee flavors are not shy and are paramount. Firm nuttiness. Nitro does not mute the flavors here. Chocolate cake with espresso beans and nutty ganache innards. Yum!

GABF 2005 and listed has Merlins Black Magic Stout: A thinner brown with a good head and some lace. The aroma was chocolate and toffee malt, coffee, cream and yeasty esters. Starts with a nice taste of mocha and smoke with lots of coffee in the finish, also noticed a bit of salty character as well. The feel is a bit sticky, smooth and astrengent on the finish. I dig it and solid coffee stout indeed.

Aroma, what aroma? I guess a slight sugar aroma and maybe a little vanilla and/or cream? Smells like a Krispe Kreme. No “rich creamy head,” no head at all really. Dark brown, but not at dark as Curly's Irish Stout. Looks good. Flavor was a bit unbalanced. It was too strong on the alcohol flavor, though there were some chocolate notes, and a slight sweetness. Palate was fair. Not a bad beer to drink. Overall, not as good as Curly's Irish Stout. Was unbalanced; too much sweet + alcohol.

Initially smells like most of their ales, which is really yeasty. Just a little bit of smoke mixed in. But after you let it open up, it oozes with awesome coffee aromas. Huge roasty coffee blends with soft semisweet chocolate flavors. Big chocolate presence here. Finishes up with a smoke+chocolate combo. Not much hop assertion till the end, where it just finishes a bit bitter from the hops and the astringent coffee. Delicious. ’03 GABF silver medal. Best coffee infused stout I’ve had, including Founders Breakfast Stout and Alesmith Speedway.

Excellent stout, black in color with a nice off-white bubbly head, very smooth & drinkable, creamy flavors, semi-dry finish