2017 Mocha Wednesday by the Bruery is a 19.9% ABV World Class Imperial Stout brewed with Portola Labs Coffee beans and TCHO Cacao Nibs aged in bourbon barrels.
The utmost in true choco-coffee-mocha liquid gold. I have reviewed this one many times but wanted to bring this years to light. Check out my last year’s review. Cheers!
https://animebeers.com/2016/02/26/2016-mocha-wednesday-by-the-bruery/
2016 Mocha Wednesday by the Bruery is a 19.4% ABV World Class Imperial Stout brewed with Portola Labs Coffee beans and TCHO Cacao Nibs aged in bourbon barrels.
Label:
MORNING AFTER
This exquisite version of Black Tuesday is brewed with TCHO cacao nibs and coffee beans from Portola Coffee Lab.
Mocha Wednesday is a perfect follow up to a Black Tuesday. Layers of artisan dark chocolate and bold coffee collide (especially when consumed fresh) thanks to cacao nibs from San Francisco’s TCHO and OC’s own Portola Coffee lab.
==Introduction==
Mocha Wednesday is back and this time, like last year, it is released to Reserve and Hoarders society. I think as time continues, it will slowly be released onto Preserve society and maybe one day, publicly. Like the other Black Tuesday variants I have tried before, these are some of the best beers in the world. Hence, since I have tried them and this one a couple of times, this is the last review I will be doing of this brew. I believe after a while, the reviews start to get repetitive. If I had tried them at their finest, anything less would just be quality control over the brews. Which the Bruery has had to separate facilities to alleviate the issues they had run into in the past. With that being said, I definitely recommend this one right off the bat. Cheers!
Aromas:
Dark, Belgian, German, sweet, bitter, milk, fudge and baker’s chocolates, Kahlua coffee, Kopi Luwak Coffee, mocha, java, espresso, Dulce de Leche caramel, vanilla, flan, hazelnut nectar, cashew butter, maple syrup, pecan pie, pecan pie, Bailey’s Irish cream, rocky road ice cream, fudge, chocolate chip cookies, molasses, oak, brown sugar, mint, anise, toasted coconut, dark fruits, raisins, figs, plums, raspberries, cherries and almond joy.
Flavors:
Very Mocha forward, fancy coffee, Kahlua coffee liqueur, java, espresso, Kopi Luwak, bourbon, oak, rum hints, vanilla beans, dulce de leche caramel, dark fruit cherries, currants, raspberries, raisins, figs, plums, blueberries, milk chocolate dark chocolate, baker’s chocolate, bitter and sweet cocoa, Belgian chocolate, German Chocolate, chocolate cherry cordials, toasted coconut, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Bailey’s Irish Cream, almond joy chocolates, anise, brown sugar, chocolate mocha flan, sweetened condensed milk, hazelnut nectar, cashew butter, maple syrup, pecan pie, coffee cake, double chocolate cherry cake, port wine and fudge brownies.
Aftertaste:
Finishes with fancy mocha Kahlua coffee, rich dark chocolates, dark fruits, caramel, cherry chocolate and coffee cake and bourbon notes. Slight alcohol burn going down but none in the taste. Pitch black full body, ridiculous smoothness, creamy, velvety, syrupy and chewy mouthfeel along with a moderate drinkability. Yeah imagine that, be careful not to finish the bottle in one sitting. Wine stoppers are your friend.
Overall:
Definitely a lot more reminiscent of Rue D’Floyd for some delicious godly reason. Yes, that coffee chocolate cherry ambrosia they made in 2014. For being the last time I review this brew, this is one hell of a way to go out with a Mocha Wednesday bang! Yes, there is not much else I can say about this brew that has become one of the best along with the other Black Tuesday variants in the series. Heck, I had to try and stop myself from finishing the whole bottle. The brew was damn ridiculous and I enjoyed every damn minute of it even for a 19% ABV. I highly recommend you get this one along with any of the “Weekday Series”. Mind BLOWING!
Anime Corner:
Konan of Amegakure from the Naruto has returned like in last year’s review and she is looking mighty gorgeous as the beer has allowed to give way to stronger and richer sweet mocha flavors. They got that right. The alcohol shows her unique strength. The perfect pairing idea came from the label and a need to find one of my favorite characters to fit. Her blue hair and hazelnut eyes fit perfect with the beer label colors. Her strength is not the only thing that matters, but the rich sweet aspects of her flavors characterizes the deep love she has for her friends Nagato and Yahiko (Also known as Pain). The rarity of this beer is the rarity of her discipline. For the smallest times you do get to see her fight, she is a bad ass ninja. Hence the reasons her smoothness and seduction will make you pay greatly later on if you try to consume her in one sitting. Patience is virtue!! Aside from these aspects, if you know this character or can even guess what other aspects of this pairing complement each other?
Sources:
http://kriscounette.k.r.pic.centerblog.net/vbjyttlo.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EpwlvJR.jpg
2015 Mocha Wednesday by The Bruery is a 18.6% ABV World Class Imperial Stout brewed with Portola Labs Coffee beans and TCHO Cacao Nibs aged in bourbon barrels.
Label:
MORNING AFTER
This exquisite version of Black Tuesday is brewed with TCHO cacao nibs and coffee beans from Portola Coffee Lab.
Mocha Wednesday is a perfect follow up to a Black Tuesday. This invigorationg ale will age gracefully if cellared properly, but the both chocolate and freshly ground coffee flavors will be most prominent when consumed fresh.
___
So this year, because I had reviewed this one last year, I will bre pretty much referring to the same stuff I talked about in the last review. This time though, this beer was part of the Reserve Society and it was about freaking time too. Black Tuesday, Grey Monday, White Chocolate, Chocolate Rain and Melange #3 have been my top favorite Bruery beers and now, Mocha Wednesday is here again this year. Cheers!!
Aromas:
Similar ridiculous aromas like last years. Alesmith Kopi Luwak coffee aroma complexity, rich mocha coffee, espresso, roasted coffee beans, Kahlua, dark, Belgian, German, sweet, bitter, milk, fudge and baker’s chocolates, bourbon, Dulce de leche caramel, vanilla, flan, hazel nuts, pecan pie, Bailey’s Irish cream, dark fruits, raisins, figs, plums, raspberries, cherries, almond joy, rocky road ice cream, fudge, chocolate chip cookies, molasses, oak, earthy notes, brown sugar, mint, anise and toasted coconut.
Flavors:
This time the Mocha and chocolate move much more forward than last years. Toasted coconut, Kahlua, mocha, java, espresso beans, Kopi luwak coffee, dark, Belgian, German, sweet, bitter, milk, fudge and baker’s chocolates as in the aromas, dark fruits like currants, cherries, raspberries, raisins, figs, plums, raspberries, cherries, almond joy chocolate, See’s coffee candy, brown sugar, chocolate mocha flan, coffee cake, brown sugar, dulce de leche caramel, vanilla beans, oak, bourbon, rum, Bailey’s Irish cream, cookies and cream ice cream, anise, mint chocolate ice cream, pecan pie, hazelnuts, maple syrup, earthy chocolate sugar notes, tobacco, roasted cashews, mocha syrup and more chocolate, damn!
Aftertaste:
Lots of Kahlua coffee. You know the alcohol is there but all you taste is sugary sweet Frappucino and coffee to the point where you can’t sense it until it is too late. A major sipping chocolate mocha syrupy mouth feel beer, but scarily, a smooth beer as well. This beer is no joke.
Overall:
Holy Shit, this kicks a lot of the best coffee beers right in the nuts. I think this is really the best damn coffee beer I have ever had with Alesmith Barrel Aged Kopi Luwak Speedway Stout being the second runner up. This definitely is a warming welcome to the already great line up of Bruery beers specifically the ones I had mentioned earlier in my post. This time, the mesh of chocolate and coffee come forth like no other, chocolate rain style. Even so, like the previous review of this, the consistency and the coffee to give it a complex coffee-mocha flavor makes it extremely unique. Something like this is what meets the highest expectation exceeding criteria that I look for in some of the best beers in the world. A rarity, but a lovely beer just the same as last years beer. It may not be the 19.2% ABV that it used to be but damn still strong and leading the pact of beers into the future.
Anime Corner:
Konan of Amegakure from the Naruto has returned like in last years review and she is looking mighty gorgeous as the beer has allowed to give way to stronger and richer sweet mocha flavors. They got that right. The alcohol shows her unique strength. The perfect pairing idea came from the label and a need to find one of my favorite characters to fit. Her blue hair and hazelnut eyes fit perfect with the beer label colors. Her strength is not the only thing that matters, but the rich sweet aspects of her flavors characterizes the deep love she has for her friends Nagato and Yahiko (Also known as Pain). The rarity of this beer is the rarity of her discipline. For the smallest times you do get to see her fight, she is a bad ass ninja. Hence the reason her smoothness and seduction will make you pay greatly later on if you try to consume her in one sitting. Patience is virtue!! Aside from these aspects, if you know this character or can even guess, what other aspects of this pairing compliment each other?
Sources:
http://www.zerochan.net/full/1168065
http://kriscounette.k.r.pic.centerblog.net/vbjyttlo.jpg
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/3e/06/2b/3e062b8799a391d6b3439578726d3dce.jpg
Rating: 6/5
Melange 8 (1 year later) by The Bruery is a 14.5% ABV American Strong Ale brewed with Don Pachi Geisha Coffee Beans and aged in Bourbon Barrels.
Label:
GEISHA!
A rich blend of our Anniversary ale, White Oak Sap along with locally roasted coffee from Portola Coffee Lab. Flavors of toffee, vanilla, oak and roasty coffee beans.
Melange No. 8 will age gracefully for many years when cellared properly. Best stored and cellared arund 55 degrees Fahrenheit in a cool, dark place.
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Bottled on 1/16/2013, this beer has been sitting for way past a year and I am sure has developed some crazy flavors. I searched all last year for this beer was unable to find it until I was able to trade it from a friend. This piece of art was so damn exclusive, that you had to be part of the Elusive and Exclusive and Expensive, Hoarders society from the Bruery. This beer, like the Kopi Luwak Coffee beans, is brewed with some very expensive coffee beans. Maybe that is why it is so exclusive. Either way, I wanted to get the review in to show case what this beer is all about.
Aromas:
Rich complex and fancy coffee with whipped cream and dulce de leche caramel, espresso, dark fruit raisins, waffle cone, bourbon, vanilla, oak, mocha, toasted coconut, marshmallows, java, milk chocolate, chai tea, flan, green tea, coriander spice, cherry, crème brulee, leather, clove spice, bananas, Kahlua liqueur, pecan pie, nutty clusters, cinnamon and some very mild tropics.
Flavors:
Very complex and fancy Coffee, mocha, espresso, vanilla, oak, bourbon, flan, dulce de leche caramel, cinnamon, dark fruit raisins, dark cherries, pecan pie, hazelnut, earthy notes, coriander and clove spice, toasted coconut, marshmallows, milk chocolate, java coffee, Kahlua liqueur notes, chai tea, herbal green tea, brown sugar, mild tropical citrus, apple butter, leather notes, berry marmalade on rye toast, coffee butter scotch, whipped cream on frappucino, cashew butter, purple sweet potato hints and waffle cone.
Aftertaste:
Sweet complex coffee, vanilla, caramel, purple sweet potato, chai tea, frappuccino, marshmallow and earthy notes linger. Alcohol is grown so you can kind of sense it in the taste but still not detracting too much from the flavors. A sipping beer for sure with full bodied mouthfeel.
Overall:
As expected, definitely one of the greats exceeding the upper flavors as only some of the best beers I love can only do. However, this is still no Melange 3. There is a reason I gave that one a 7 and there is no way I have changed my mind from this one. Nevertheless, right next to Bourbon County Coffee Brand Stout,Mocha Wednesday and the Alesmith Kopi Luwak Bourbon Barrel Aged beers this one is one of the best worldly coffee beers out there. The only way to get this one is by basic trading unfortunately and I had a hell of time to try and get this. So if you have a bottle, now you know what it can be like, at least so far.
Anime Corner:
Franco il Nero (Frank the Black) and her group of Donne Annonime and Lily Salvattana from Tre Donne Crudeli were used in this beer pairing because I wanted to find a pairing that reminded me of the worlds best coffee beer as well as match the colors. Since this beer is a blend of different beers, I mixed in the them three since I used them in many epic beers like the Bourbon County Brand Stouts variants. Since Coffee was the main aspect and a fancy coffee at that, I wanted to relate those flavors and bourbon as how they related to the old west. Many cowboys and cowgirls would drink bourbon while others would drink coffee. The blend in these together along with the Old Ale aspect of the Old West and the White Oak Sap reminding me of the hot sun was just the mix up I needed to bring this together. That and I wanted to find an excuse to use Franco il Nero in a Bruery beer since I have not done so in the past. That and the fact that her name is “The Black”, like a cup of rich fancy coffee!
Bourbon Barrel Aged Kopi Luwak Speedway Stout by Alesmith is a 12%ABV World Class Imperial Stout brewed with Kopi Luwak Coffee beans and aged in Bourbon Barrels
Label:
Kopi Luwak is one of the world’s most expensive and rare coffee varieties. The beans are specifically selected for their ripeness and quality by the Civet, a small jungle marsupial that feeds off the fruit of the coffee cherry. They are then gathered by humans from the jungle floors of Indonesia, throughly cleaned, and sun-dried. A precise roasting by San Diego’s Ryan Bros. Coffee leads to extremely aromatic and exceptionally smooth final product that complements this barrel-aged imperial stout amazingly well. Good to the last dropping!
___
So there you have it, to put it bluntly, it is basically an already world class stout made with coffee beans that have been pooped out by the Civet cat and then barrel aged the whole thing. Considering this was hard to get, the price of a cup of just the coffee by itself would put the price of this beer to shame. Yet, the flavors are most likely very unique to even the coffee by itself that the palette understanding of the complexity would cause a tongue would send signals to the brain causing a mind blow division by zero. Even if the concept of Civet poop coffee sounds disgusting, one must have an open mind. This is really clean beer too. Anyway, enough of that, on with the review
Aromas:
Straight out of the bottle, uniquely rich pecan pie, bakers chocolate, really fancy coffee, hazelnut, Irish cream, dark fruit, a type of boozyness that smells like cantaloupe, dark and milk chocolate, flan, mocha, java, espresso, Kahlua, dark cherries, floral notes, oak, vanilla, bourbon, coconut, bananas, rocky road ice cream notes
Flavors:
Chocolate covered cherries, really fancy coffee, Kahlua, pecan pie, rocky road ice cream, rich java, mocha, earthly bitter notes, flan notes, bananas, vanilla, caramel, marshmallows, bourbon, oak, floral notes, Irish cream notes, dark fruits, bakers chocolate, dark chocolate syrup, roasted coffee beans, black berries, herbal spicy notes, rum notes, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies and more flavors I cant make out.
Aftertaste:
Finishing off with layer of roasted fancy coffee, minor earthy possibly off flavor (LOL could be the poop ;)), caramel, chocolate, dark fruit, berries, bourbon, herbal cherry and spices as well as some bourbon. A big sipper with the booziness not detracting from the rich complex but more like it plays well
Overall:
*Bar none, the best coffee imperial stout ever!! I have tried the Mikkeller Beer Geek Weasel Cognac and this one beats it big time. Who knew Civet poop bean coffee could be so good. One of the reasons why this coffee is so great is because the process or digesting these beans causes the impurities and bitterness of coffee to be removed leaving beans that are more appealing, except for the poop part ofcourse.. That gets cleaned off thoroughly (I hope O_O). Definitely world class adding another depth of character that is hard to describe even with the barrel aging part itself for sure. Lots of extra credits here.
Anime Corner:
Blake Belladonna from RWBY is one of the main characters from the show with a reserved and sometimes antisocial personality. She carries a lot of burden on her shoulders rom her past. She is a Faunus, which are humanoid people with some animal traits. In the show, people may be prejudice against the Fauni as they consider them thieves. While Blake is a good person, she believes the people may be misunderstood seeing how the actions of some of the bad Fauni may give the overall race a bad rap. This part of her history can reflect the cruelty from some of the people who may abuse the Civets they harvest the coffee beans from. It is wrong to abuse some of the animals, but I am hopeful that the beer this was made from did not abuse any of those animals. While fighting, Blake is perceived almost like a ninja, a fast paced ninja. In relation to this beer, she is black like a stout, fast enough to meet the name “speedway stout”. She looks like a black cat which some Civets, even though marsupials, kind look like cats. The red background in the pictures is used to explain some of those dark berry flavors. The bourbon is in her eyes which have seen many things but remain strong and determined.
In the last 2 pictures, Symphony City Kitty by petite-emi.deviantart.com I used to represent the Civet. In weird sort of way I sort of artistic way, I saw this picture as the Civet releasing the berries. The blue background of the Civet may represent the astonishment of the delicious flavors from the coffee beans, either that or the Bullshit of humanity represented by the cities that a small portion of places actually don’t obey animal rights. I really hope the coffee beans picked for this beer were harvested in respect to these creatures. Which leads to the last piece of work where Symphony flicks the cigarette to represent disgust at animal abuse, but also looking very classy as in saying “here is your fancy coffee made from my poop, while I stand here looking classy and awesome, you sick bastards!!”
Anyways, if you can see any more artfulness in these pieces let me know. While I am against animal abuse, I really hope they harvested these beans with respecting the animals. Otherwise, I’d definitely feel like a hypocritical bastard for drinking this. It is an extremely good beer though. I do Thank you Civets of the world.