Kuhnhenn Crème Brûlée Java Stout
Black ale beer, made with real coffee. This java stout goes through a unique process, involving caramelizing brown sugar to give it an intense caramel & vanilla aroma.
3.8
216 reviews
Warren, United States
Community reviews
Growler courtesy of Bill, pours black with small head, no lacing. Aromas is espresso bean, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, and taste is bitter coffee, caramel, tofffee, brown sugar and vanilla marshmallow. Light to medium body, light carbonation. Delicious. Doesn’t have the southern tier cloying grossness.
At Kuhnhenn. Poured black with light tan foam. Very pleasant aroma of vanilla coffee caramel. Quite smooth light smokey taste.
Growler from Kuhnhenn. Pours a dark porter brown with a tan head. Nose is some roast, some earth, some cocoa, and some sweetness that comes out as a nice caramel creme brulee. Flavor is similar- stout base: cocoa, earth, chocolate along with the sugary sweet creme brulee additions. Light to medium in body and a nice somewhat sessionable beer.
On tap at Kuhnhenn Tap Room, Warren , Michigan, pours a dark black color with a beautiful large java head. Nose is sweet vanilla and roasted coffee. Taste is coffee, vanilla and cream, and not overly sweet like Southern Tiers Cream Brûlée. This stout delievers all taste and flavor. Magnificent stout. 8 / 10
On tap at Kuhnhenn Brewery in Warren, Michigan. Pours black with a brown head and a pleasant java, coffee, vanilla aroma. Taste is sweet, lots of coffee, java, vanilla, and cream with a roasty, creamy coffee finish. Excellant stout, like a dessert in a beer
Enjoyed on tap at Kuhnhenn Brewery in Warren, MI with friends prior to going to a Tigers game. This stuff was exceptionally good. Appearance is pitch black with a robust, creamy white head. Aroma mostly of vanilla, chocolate, maybe a bit of hazelnut. Taste is sweet, decadent, and delicious, the vanilla notes are especially good. I didn’t really like the vibe of this place, but the beer was very good.
Draft at Crunchy's. Near black with a beige head. Burnt sugar and malt. Pretty close to the dessert.
On tap. Aroma is hazelnuts and vanilla, subtle coffee in the shadows. Super nutty yo. Vanilla and burnt sugars galore, balanced coffee profile. A much better beer than the Southen Tier creme brûlée.
Incredible aroma. Gets the saliva juiced up immediately. Black as night. Tastes of dirt & iron on an aggressively, almost lactic, dry delivery. This one is all in the smell; a description that I end up offering to a lot of Kuhnhenn brews.
Opaque black color with a medium creamy beige head. Aroma is strong espresso with some cocoa notes. Flavor is very armonious espresso with cocoa and some vanilla notes, kind of a latte. medium palate easy drinker and full of flavor.
On tap at Hopcat. Pours black with brown head. Aroma is coffee and vanilla. Sweet. Taste follows the aroma with a good amount of coffee, vanilla, and cream. Not too sweet and very balanced. Very good beer.
Growler in a tulip. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma of chocolate, vanilla, hints of roast and caramel, plus light hops. Flavor the same and really too sweet and vanilla-y. Smooth texture. An interesting stout but too sweet.
Flat out crushes the southern tier versikn. Not too sweet. Layers of bunt cara.el, coffee, vanilla, and cocoa.
On tap at HopCat. This was a tasty treat for sure, pitch black with lovely coffee and sweet aromas. Not too heavy at all, perfect strength. Very smooth and enjoyable.
Sample draft at the brewery. Pours a near black color with a nice beige head that lingers. Aroma is delicious. Lots of coffee, vanilla, and burnt brown sugar. Taste is slight sweet and a slight bitterness too. Really tastes like liquid Creme Brulee with coffee. Finish is incredibly smooth and leaves a long coffee flavor. Mouthfeel is a bit thin and carbonation is a bit strong. Would love to try an imperial version of this. I bet it would be amazing. Still, its a very tasty stout.
Draft at Kuhnhenn tap room. Pours black with a tan head. Aroma of sweet chocolate and vanilla. Flavor is of roasty coffee with plenty of chocolate. Lots of intense flavor in this. Excellent in small quantities, but drinkability is limited. I very much enjoyed it, but even though the alcohol content was suprisingly low the sweetness pretty much cuts you off after one beer. Would definitely try again.
13th February 2010
Opaque black stout. Light vanilla nose. Palate is light and a little crisp. Sweet burned vanilla malt - quite airy. Minerals. Finishes soft and pretty dry. A distinctive beer but the Southern Tier is casting a long shadow here. Still good though.
From a growler straight from the brewery. Poured a pitch, motor oil black color with a dark tan head. Aroma was... woah. It was coffee, vanila, roasted malts, and a touch of lactose/milk, like cream. Flavor was, how to put it... pretty amazing. This was like drinking a sweet, sugary, creamy coffee, treat. This one is a bit syrupy sweet and it’s not so much a beer as a confectionery delight. It’s caramel sweetness, with toffee, doused with liberal amounts of vanilla and coffee and it’s so good. Very drinkable, which is a huge plus as it’s not some alco-bomb that ends the night right when it touches your lips.
2009 bottle shared by jckp64- thanks a lot, John! Pours a dark, hazy chocolate brown with a small head. The aroma is sweet and roasty, with coffee, creme brulee, cream, sugar, chocolate, and toast. The flavor falls off a cliff and doesn’t match at all. An overwhelming dose of dark fruits underlies sugar and coffee. Infected, maybe?
From notes. First reviewed 5/27/2011. Poured from a growler into a tulip.
My pour is pitch black with a smooth, quickly fading coffee brown head.
The aroma is dark, medium roasted malt, tons of creamy coffee, and vanilla.
The flavor starts out with some milk sweetness, a good amount of roasted malt, lots of slightly bitter and very full-flavored coffee. There is some lingering bitterness, but the vanilla and cream really come to dominate the flavor. Fairly sweet.
Crème Brûlée has a medium to full body, light carbonation. Slight milk stickiness. Very creamy and smooth.
This was very good, although it became a little bit sweet as the glass progressed.
Draft. Very good all around and this hits the mark for the name / type. Full body and smooth, good balanced taste -- not too sweet nor any of the flavors overpowering.
I kept passing on this beer due to the over sweetness of southern tier creme brûlée... After having this im regretting passing on this all those times! I got a growler fill of it for christmas upon the initial pour it was jet black with a dark black smell of coffee, that’s a win! Taste is coffee followed by vanilla and carmalized sugar. Kuhnhenn made the perfect creme brûlée and I’m glad this is so close to me.
12oz bottle via trade with stfun. Aroma was WOW. First 10 I have given for aroma. Strong vanilla sugar (brown) and some coffee. The vanilla and sugar were very powerful. DarkesT brown pour. Problem was the taste. Possible issue with bottle? As no other reviews were like my experience. Bottle stated 2009. Taste started sour and stayed that way. Slight sweetness but never tasted coffee. Want to try again to see if bad bottle or just me
this is just a great great beer its deep black with the most amazing sugary chocolate coffee taste needs to be tried on tap in the pub
Vanilla and brown sugar-- just creme brulee and coffee really in an easy drinking stout. These guys kill it.
Sampled on draft at GTMW 2011. Pours a very dark brown color with a thin brown head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of intense caramel, chocolate and a bit of vanilla. The taste is sweet malts, roasted malts, coffee and caramel. Medium bodied.
On tap at the brewpub; pour is dark brown with a marginal off white head; perhaps a poor attempt at a pour to begin with? There is some very fine lacing present here as well. Creme brule is very present here; roasted coffee, vanilla beans, brown sugar; yeah. This may be a malt bomb but im loving it. Vanilla beans, roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugars, cream; excellent.
Growler. Poured into a tulip glass a dark, forboding black color with a thick tan head. Very, VERY coffee and vanilla in the nose, one of the most decadent aromas outside of Southern Tier I’ve had in a long time. Medium mouthfeel. The java coffee flavor domintes the start to this but after a second a nice sweet vanilla note joins the flavors and pairs nicely with the coffee. Slightly roasty and dry finish. Some chocolate notes as well. Overall, pretty good.
I fist thought I was smelling coffee the aroma was so pungent. The body was dark and filling. Dark chocolate and coffee taste.
On tap at HopCat. Served in an imperial pint glass.
Pours a moderate brown color with quite a bit of haze. Single-finger off-white head with a bit of lacing as it goes down. The nose is quite nice with a lot of cream and vanilla plus a good deal of coffee. Some roasted malt lingering in the background. The flavor is a bit too cloying as the vanilla and cream start to take over a bit. Still, nice flavors lingering in the background and I like the addition of the coffee, which makes this much, much more drinkable than Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee. Mouthfeel is nice and creamy and the sweetness works here. I like this version better than the Imperial.
Serving type: on-tap
Reviewed on: 01-02-2011