Coffee Milk

What's the Rhode Island's state beverage?  Coffee milk.  Never heard of it?  Neither have most people that haven't ventured to our nation's smallest state.

Just like adding chocolate syrup to a glass of milk, coffee milk is made by adding a special coffee syrup to milk and stirring.  Depending on one's tastes, the amount of syrup added will result in a final coffee milk color between off-white and dark ecru.  The drink's mouthfeel is thicker and creamier than adding milk to coffee, thanks to the thickness of the syrup, and there's still a hint of caffeine to provide a little kick.

The leading coffee milk producer is Autocrat, which produces the Coffee Time and Eclipse labels as well as its eponymous brand.

For summertime fun, or to reward yourself after shoveling out after a New England snow storm, try a coffee cabinet.  This treat is made by mixing coffee ice cream, milk, and coffee syrup.  You might be tempted to call this a "milkshake", but in Rhode Island a milkshake is just flavored milk.

The next time you're on I-95 between Boston and New York, take a minute and stop by Rhode Island for a treat that's hard to find anywhere else.

Mayflower Porter

I saw this at the local bar, its tap handle mingling with other more established brands, hiding the youth of the Mayflower brewery (it started distributing earlier this year) and this particular style.  My pint came with the thinnest amount of fizz on top of a rich, opaque chocolate beer.

A mild coffee and more pronounced toffee aroma arose from its thick body.  Its mouthfeel is as one would expect of a porter of its appearance, filling my mouth with sweet and roasty tastes.

Surprisingly, this porter goes down easy and light.  My mouth wanted more after my first sip, and I feel I could have obliged it a few more pints quite easily.

Miller High Life

To celebrate the first forty games of this year's NCAA tournament, I decided to indulge in a forty ounce bottle of Miller High Life.  The bottle fits nicely in the hand, although the famous cowgirl sitting on the moon was absent from the label.

I opened the top and was hit with a very grainy smell.  The beer poured without much head, and what little foam there was quickly evaporated.  Tiny bubbles rose through the clear, sickly yellow liquid.

The beer has an almost cloyingly sweet taste, although not as sweet as some other macrobrews.  There was absolute no hint of hops, fruity esters, or flavors other than lightly toasted bread.  I usually don't drink beer cold, but I did with this one; I'm not sure I could have lost any taste or aromas.  The mouthfeel was the same as distilled water.

I've often gone to Miller High Life when quantity of beer was more imperative than quality, although the price is slightly higher than Schlitz Ice, Black Label, or other non-BMC macrobrews.  Although not the finest beer in the world, the "Champagne of Beers" comes through once again as a solid macrobrew.

Foster's Lager

Got an oilcan of this to drink while watching some Thursday afternoon March Madness action.  Instead of chugging this like I'm prone to do, I decided to do a proper tasting.

I poured the golden, almost pee-like beer into a glass, and it hissed with a few fingers worth of foam.  After it subsided, leaving nice lace fingers on the glass, I stuck my nose in and took a whiff.  A maize aroma filled my nostrils; it was sweet enough to send my pancreas scrambling to produce insulin.

My palate's first impression is "flat", followed by "sweet".  A dish of bitterness slipped in the middle of the sip, but otherwise the beer was as easy to drink as a not-so-fizzy soda.  There's a distinct mild taste: is it pilsner malt, or is it corn?

While Foster's lacks the depth of a solid lager, and its mouthfeel is very close to water, it is very easy to quaff in large quantities.  The price is the big stumbling block; add $1 to the price of an oilcan and one can buy any of a long list of quality beers.  Given that opportunity cost, it's hard to recommend Foster's over either a fine lager or a cheaper macrobrew.

Green Guinness

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day I enjoyed a few cans of Guinness.  But this didn't seem Irish enough.  Many drink green beer.  Why not try to make a green Guinness?

I knew the odds were against me.  The beer's dark, almost black color would overwhelm any addition of food coloring.

I tried anyway, first pouring the Guinness Draught into a glass, adding green food coloring on top, and stirring.  The beer took on a greenish tint over the blackness, but this aurora beerialis soon subsided.  The foam, however, maintained a fresh green color.

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout

After warming up with a Guinness or three, I felt that this thick stout from Ommegang came out in a sensory explosion of taste and flavor.  A pleasant dark aroma entered the air on the pour, and swirling the stout released a bitter but pleasing aroma, about two parts Belgian chocolate to one part dark roasted coffee, with a slightly astringent alcohol smell coupled with sweet fruity esters.

I lifted the glass to the light, and admired its color, about two shades lighter than jet black.  The legs from my swirl stuck to the sides of the glass like sandbars in a sea of crystal.

I expected a very bitter experience, given the Belgian chocolate powder used in generous quantities, but instead received something a little more creamy and smooth than I expected.  Yes, the chocolate and dark malt flavors were at the forefront, but there were subtle hints of cherry and vanilla dancing to and fro, thanks to Ommegang's use of a Belgian yeast.  The beer stuck to my teeth and had a good solid depth.

The Chocolate Indulgence's higher-than-average alcohol content is masked by a rich flavor and good mouthfeel.  From the pop of the cork to the last drop, Ommegang comes through with another fine Belgian-style brew.

7% ABV.

Guinness Draught

Seeing as it is St. Patrick's Day, I figured I'd pop open a few cans of Guinness Draught to celebrate.

The pint can opened with a hiss, spilling some contents down its side.  I poured to fill a pint glass to the three-quarter mark, and the tan foam appeared to flow downward into the jet black beer below.  After a few minutes the thick head subsided, and I filled the glass to the top.

I stuck my nose a little too close to the glass, and came up with a touch of foam on my nose and a faint scent of roasted malt and, more faint, coffee.  The beer felt like water in my mouth, with not much body to it.  I tasted the roasted barley, again ever so faint, and not much else.  As I downed the pint some moments were distinctly bitter, but most of the time flavor felt like it was being diluted with water and washed away.

The lack of body makes Guinness a great session beer.  I know I had two more pints after the first.  However, I'm of the school of thought that a good stout shouldn't be a candidate to be shotgunned or funneled, and I'd be perfectly happy doing either with Guinness Draught.

4.2% ABV.