Bourbon Coffee Broken Dream

After getting hold of these two sisters from Siren Craft Brew I was hoping to review them side-by-side but life doesn't always let you work that way. So it was that I had the Broken Dream original last week, and you can read that by clicking here, and this week I am reviewing the slightly more powerful sister brew Bourbon Coffee Broken Dream - but the power is not in the ABV, for that is the same, but in the flavour. I have heard only good things about this particular ale and so I hope that I am not in for a disappointment, we shall see!

There's plenty to be wary about at the moment, obviously, but I shall ignore all of that and simply get down to the ale, I've waited a long time and it would be rude not to. Would you like to know more?

Oh! Oooh! This is lovely. Straight off, the nose on this one just... I love it. Strong on the coffee but with a sweet hot chocolate edge that is just... It is lovely. Good dark pour with a lovely lead in from the carbonation, all white and whispy, and then topped with that biscuit caramel head and fizzing for just a short while to let you know that there's life in her yet. I am already struck by how much this builds from the sister brew without diminishing it first. I am glad I have waited to have these in the right order, it was worth it. This is rich and to be savoured, the bourbon adding a sweetness that is not too much and puts me in mind of those lovely biscuits with the cream in the middle - it should be obvious that I like those (because I am cheap).

Bourbon milkshake feel through the head with a soft oatmeal texture on the tongue, cooling as it spills into the mouth, and then swirling with a hint of malty fizz to a crescendo of velvet softness and a touch of sweetness mingling with the ordinary slight bittering of the chocolate in the centre of this stout. I am impressed. A good dry mouthfeel with no hint of roast but some nuance of the malt and coffee combining as it fills the centre and then leaving this impression like Wile E. Coyote hitting the side of a cliff face in his pursuit of the road runner. And the gift keeps giving! It is not so thick that it totally takes over the mouth or becomes full but nor is it thin and quick like maybe the Eldon (click here) was when I had that. This lacks the dry roast of the Kofra Stout (click here) but it has something else that none of those brews had: it has passion.

In many ways this is a worthy successor to the crown currently worn by Mocha (click here) for the coffee and the stout in perfect harmony. Here at my workstation in the dark of an evening it is very much what the doctor ordered and more than pays for itself, for it was a pretty penny from the bottle shop, and does so without too much fuss or drawing undue attention to itself. This is a good bit of coffee stout and I can imagine that the Milkshake version simply takes this to the next level. No, this is superior to its sister brew and it is very much worth waiting for. There's even less evidence of the 6.5% ABV in this one and the whole affair is just lively enough to keep me popping for a while yet.

You know, I often say work is tough, and it is, but this makes me not care about it in the best possible way. Summer is almost upon us and, for the moment at least, life is good. One of the better stouts of the year, a challenger for the power of Wild Beer and their Billionaire (click here) and Millionaire (click here) and that is saying something. This tastes like luxury but in a different way and it just pushes all of my buttons. I think I have finally become one of those beer geeks that has a 'style' and a sort of ale that will just render me incapable of coherent description.

Seriously, get this if you see it. Enjoy it anywhere and any time that you have the time to have a stout. It's bloody good ale!