Beer Review: Coffee Abraxas

Reviewing the Coffee Abraxas from Perennial Artisan Ales out of St. Louis, Missouri.

Score: 43

Fall 2013 vintage bottle served in an Abraxas glass and enjoyed on 07/25/14, alongside batch 1 and batch 2 Barrel Aged Abraxas.

Appearance: Pours a shiny, inky black color with a finger of head of mocha colored head. Good lacing and retention. Nice oily legs and browning from the swirl too. 4.25/5

Smell: Lots of green pepper, with subtler notes of cinnamon, milk chocolate and very faint coffee behind it. This nose has a lot of vegetal similarity, in a bad way, with Sump and regular Barrel Aged Sump; maybe it has something to do with the coffee blend used? The green pepper character is pretty unpleasant, but the residual aroma of cinnamon and milk chocolate is nice and saves this aroma from being a complete disaster. 2/5

Taste: Has a sharp green pepper flavor upfront with a little tang and fruitiness on the back half. Definitely some minor off flavors present here. There's a mix of milk chocolate and old coffee on the back half, with a kiss of cinnamon on the midpalate. Poor flavor integration here, which is a shame given the balanced master piece of regular Abraxas and Barrel Aged Abraxas. A tinge of booze too. The green pepper character in the taste, like the nose, is quite unpleasant, but it is not undrinkable. The beer finishes with a faint milk chocolate flavor that sticks around a bit. 2/5

Mouthfeel: Thin bodied, low-medium carbonation. Given the viscous body of regular Abraxas and Barrel Aged Abraxas, this is a huge disappointment. Vegetal flavor, but otherwise balanced with a touch of residual sweetness on the finish. 1.5/5

Overall: This beer was much roastier and chocolatey on tap (and it had none of the green pepper character) the night before FOBAB compared to this bottle. I have sampled much fresher pours from two other bottles, and my experience with those bottles was roughly comparable to this one. I think the coffee character here was entirely too vegetal, and that it overshadowed and overpowered the characters that make Abraxas special. I would certainly give this beer another whirl if I saw it on tap, but I would not seek out another pour from a bottle.

Cost: $30 for a 750 ml bottle.